Connecting the entire city with the "Beijing Art Season", the 9th Gallery Weekend Beijing announced updates to its mechanisms and exhibition lineup. The 2.0 model made its debut, deepening academic accumulation and professional depth and achieving a radiating extension of public influence.

The 9th Gallery Weekend Beijing will be held from May 23 to June 1. Among them, May 23 to 25 are VIP days, and May 27 to June 1 are public days. Since its establishment in 2017, Gallery Weekend Beijing has lasted for eight years. It has always promoted the dialogue between the art field and public culture with a local starting point and an international professional spirit, and has gradually grown into one of the most influential art platforms in China.

On April 25, the 9th Gallery Week Beijing press conference and roundtable forum were held in the 798CUBE auditorium, announcing the latest progress of the mechanism update and the heavyweight exhibition lineup. Yan Mingdan, deputy secretary of the Party General Branch and general manager of Beijing 798 Cultural Technology Co., Ltd., Philip Tinari, director of UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Yang Beichen, director of MACA Art Center, Qu Kejie, founder of Magician Space, David Chau, co-founder of Zero Equals One Art Group, Bao Dong, artistic director of Beijing Contemporary Art Fair, and other guests attended the event.

Yan Mingdan, Deputy Party Secretary and General Manager of Beijing Qijiuba Cultural Technology Co., Ltd.At the press conference, it was mentioned that “starting from Gallery Weekend Beijing, we are very pleased to see that a new cultural framework, the ‘Beijing Art Season’, is taking shape. It uses time as the axis and platform as the link to organically connect important local exhibition projects, fairs, art festivals and public activities, forming a linkage pattern of content exchange, audience sharing and cultural co-construction. This is not only an accumulation of exhibition numbers, but also an aggregation and extension of cultural effectiveness. It is an attempt to upgrade from a professional mechanism to an urban cultural strategy.”

Previously, the 9th Gallery Weekend Beijing announced a structural adjustment to its annual project, changing the gallery participation method from the exhibitor registration system of previous years to an invitation system by the organizer.The 21 galleries participating in the 8th Gallery Weekend Beijing jointly voted for this year'sFive gallery committee members, respectivelyLeng Lin, founder of Beijing Commune; Peng Yongyi, director of Galleria Continua (Beijing); Qu Kejie, founder of Magician Space; Tian Yuan, founder of White Space; Xi Tao, founder of A26 Space(In alphabetical order of last name). The five gallery committee members reviewed all the galleries that had participated in the eight previous Gallery Weekend Beijing and decided the invitation list for this year through voting. In addition to the voting mechanism, each committee member also has one vote for the recommendation of new galleries that have not participated in Gallery Weekend Beijing and have been established in Beijing for more than one year.

After careful selection and voting, this year's Gallery Weekend Beijing welcomed 30 galleries rooted in the Beijing area and 11 non-profit organizations to participate in the exhibition.The participating galleries in the main section include Beijing Commune, Galleria Continua, Platform China, SPURS Gallery and Star Gallery, which are located in 798·751 Park and celebrate their 20th anniversary this year; as well as new galleries participating for the first time, such as MG Space, MOU MOU, REFLEXION, SENSE GALLERY, Tong Gallery+Projects, etc. The participation of non-profit organizations in this Gallery Weekend Beijing is the highest in history. 798CUBE, Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum, Louis Vuitton Espace Beijing, Hyundai Motor Culture Center, MACA Art Center, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Song Art Museum and Shanzhongtian Art Center have returned again. Red Brick Art Museum, Taikang Art Museum and X Art Museum are participating for the first time and will participate deeply in Gallery Weekend Beijing through different exhibition projects. Antenna Space, which is participating in Gallery Week Beijing for the first time, will present a special exhibition project of Gallery Week Beijing on May 10 at the B02 building (formerly Langkong Art Museum): Cheng Xinyi and Wang Yi Fuling Tao Cheng's double exhibition "Between Shadows and Bright Sides". The exhibition is designed by Tian Jun, a senior collector with nearly 20 years of collection experience and who continues to participate in art projects as a creator. The newly upgraded Gallery Week Beijing will promote the continuous expansion of Gallery Week Beijing and promote the improvement of Beijing's urban cultural level with richer exhibitions, wider cooperation and a more open value system, with the core goal of creating the "Beijing Art Season".

This year's Gallery Weekend Beijing will continue798·751 ParkAs the core, linkageCBD Art District, Caochangdi Art District, Beijing Bonded Art Districtand other core art areas, throughMore than 50 exhibitions, more than 20 social events and more than 20 professional forums,Fully activate the city’s artistic energy and expand the scale and influence of Beijing’s art ecology.

Among the more than 50 exhibitions covered in the 9th Gallery Week Beijing, there will be a full-dimensional presentation of the power of female art at home and abroad and of different generations in response to the global art world's high attention to female creation; at a time when AI and biotechnology are reshaping human cognition, there will be an exploration of the symbiosis and future relationship between contemporary art and technology, life and nature; respect for the creativity of the younger generation, showing their response to issues such as identity and globalization through comprehensive media such as images, installations, and behaviors; highlighting the continuous evolution of painting as a medium, witnessing its in-depth exploration from history to reality; through rich thematic group exhibitions, stimulate dialogues between curators, audiences and works, explore ecological resonance under multiple narratives and other exhibition perspectives, and fully display the cutting-edge trends in the development of global art. At the same time, these projects also indirectly confirm that multiple perspectives are reconstructing a new art ecology.

The prosperity of contemporary art depends not only on exhibitions, but also on active interactions and collection ecosystems. This year, Gallery Week Beijing will plan more than 20 high-end social events, including dinners, parties, private gatherings, etc., to build an in-depth communication platform for collectors, curators, artists and other practitioners to promote industry interaction. At the same time, as an engine to stimulate the thinking power of the industry, the 9th Gallery Week Beijing will join hands with ART021 BEIJING Beijing 21st Modern and Contemporary Art Fair and Beijing Contemporary Art Fair, which are also rooted in Beijing, to hold more than 20 professional forums during Gallery Week Beijing, covering in-depth topics such as art market analysis and public art practice, and providing forward-looking insights into the industry.

In response to the expansion of exhibition volume and the improvement of exhibition content in this year's project, the 9th Gallery Weekend Beijing will also make important updates to the selection mechanism of the "Best Exhibition Award" and the "Exploration Without Boundaries Award".Since its establishment in 2018, the "Best Exhibition Award" has been one of the most watched events of Gallery Weekend Beijing. The selection of this year's "Best Exhibition Award" will be completed by cross-generational cooperation between young curators and senior non-profit institution directors: First, Gallery Weekend Beijing invites 5 curators born in the 1980s and 1990s who have long been concerned about the art ecology of Beijing to form a nomination committee to jointly nominate 8-10 candidate exhibitions; in the final selection stage, a jury composed of 3-5 non-profit art institution directors will select the final winning exhibition from the nominated exhibitions. At the same time, the "Exploration Without Boundaries Award" added last year focuses on encouraging artists to dare to try new art forms, media and expressions, and encourages art participants to break the boundaries of exhibitions together. The award will be independently selected by 5 young curators born in the 1980s and 1990s on the "Best Exhibition Award" nomination committee. This adjustment aims to build a more open and forward-looking selection system through the collaboration of intergenerational curatorial forces, and further stimulate the diversity and critical thinking of artistic creation. At the same time, this is also Gallery Weekend Beijing’s commitment to the sustainability of the art ecology - through structural optimization, breaking down barriers, and allowing professional voices of different generations to jointly shape evaluation standards.

This year's Gallery Week Beijing specially invited actor and art self-media "Art Nook" owner Yuan Hong to serve as the publicity ambassador.Together, we will lead a new journey of artistic exploration. As a widely known and influential actor and art lover, Yuan Hong will use his sincere love for art and unique perspective to join hands with Gallery Weekend Beijing to lead the audience on a fascinating art journey.

In the final roundtable forum, Yan Mingdan, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and general manager of Beijing 798 Cultural Technology Co., Ltd., Philip Tinari, director of UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Yang Beichen, director of MACA Art Center, Qu Kejie, founder of Magician Space, David Chau, co-founder of Zero Equals One Art Group, and Bao Dong, artistic director of Beijing Contemporary Art Fair, discussedThe new mechanism of the 9th Gallery Weekend Beijing and topics such as building a Beijing urban art network were fully discussed.

"As the first industry pioneer to introduce the international gallery week model in China, Gallery Weekend Beijing is about to usher in the milestone ninth event. After eight years of intensive cultivation and development, we have always promoted the construction of the art ecology with professionalism, based in Beijing, a famous cultural city, and continued to build an art bridge connecting local and international. In 2025, Gallery Weekend Beijing will further strengthen the platform function. We are committed to providing participating galleries, non-profits and artists with better exhibition space, and promoting diversified dialogue and innovative practices. In the upcoming art event, the participating institutions will jointly present a series of high-level exhibition projects on a larger scale. We sincerely look forward to global art colleagues gathering in Beijing in May to witness this art feast together and work together to promote the prosperity and development of the 'Beijing Art Season'." - Gallery Weekend Beijing Team

Gallery Weekend Beijing 2025 Schedule
Media Day:May 22 (Thursday)
VIP Day:May 23-25 (Friday to Sunday)
Public Days:May 27 to June 1 (Tuesday to Sunday)

About Gallery Weekend Beijing
Gallery Weekend Beijing was founded in 2017 and is committed to building an international contemporary art dialogue and promotion platform with a pioneering and professional attitude. Every year, Gallery Weekend Beijing organizes nine days of art activities around the latest exhibitions of galleries and non-profit organizations in the Beijing area, including: exhibition openings, media tours, VIP tours, academic lectures, performances, artist studio visits, private collection visits, parties, annual dinners, etc. Among them, the three-day VIP Day invites important domestic and foreign art museum directors, collectors, curators, art critics and media to participate, providing a space for in-depth communication for domestic and foreign art practitioners and collectors; the six-day Public Day is through exhibition passes, audio guides, forums, workshops and other public education activities.
Provide citizens living in Beijing and surrounding areas with channels to learn about artistic creation and exhibitions, and create an "Art Season" in Beijing.
 

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