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New Summer Palace
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Yiheyuan—New Summer Palace, 1

ByLaraine Armenti, visual artist

ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — BEIJING, no. 6 All that is absent at Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer Palace, is present a little further west at Yiheyuan, the New Summer Palace, in Haidian, Beijing. The inadequacy of photography to convey atmosphere and grandeur is demonstrated in nearly every picture of my visit. Photographic flattening and miniaturization obliterates dizzying heights and magisterial transformations of space. Each set of interior and outdoor rooms spills into the next with unbelievable…

Yuanmingyuan
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Catastrophe

ByLaraine Armenti, visual artist

ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — BEIJING, no. 5 Imagine tours of Buckingham Palace and Versailles leading to graveyards of empty space, vestiges of devastation caused by invading foreign armies. In China, that place is Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer Palace in Beijing. Its annihilation in 1860 by the Anglo-French and American belligerents against the Qing dynasty feels recent. Instead of reveling in 18th & early 19th century architecture, design, furniture, gardens, and vast ornamentation of human imagination,…

Today Art Museum
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Art Districts

ByLaraine Armenti, visual artist

ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — BEIJING, no. 4 On Saturday the Inside Out Art Museum academic director Liang Shuang and I attended openings in two art districts in northeast Beijing. We saw a wide spectrum of work in museums and galleries. I felt unbelievably lucky to meet so many people working in contemporary art. And it was inspiring to see the range of work and exhibition venues. ABOVE: Today Art Museum, Building no. 1 — towers…

Simcard purchase
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Haidian

ByLaraine Armenti, visual artist

ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — BEIJING, no. 3 The artist residency I am attending is located in the Haidian district of Beijing. The museum is across from a corporate office park on a short road that leads to a small village. People walk up and down the road to and from the village all day. to the village from the village village poultry shop catching a nap while reading and waiting for poultry customers courtyard with…

hotel, 01
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Arrival Beijing

ByLaraine Armenti, visual artist

ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — BEIJING, no. 2 Today is my first day at the Inside Out Art Museum in Beijing, China. Travel and settling in was easy and identical to any international city. Everyone is patient with my lack of language skills. Written directions in Chinese, that I prepared in advance, are mandatory for taxis. At the end of a long process of arriving, it was a pleasure to encounter friends in the museum. ABOVE:…

Colors & Paper
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Paint & Paper

ByLaraine Armenti, visual artist

ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — BEIJING, no. 1 The perennial question of what to pack for a month-long artist residency: how much paint and paper is enough, too much, or not enough. It is especially difficult with air travel and customs. Artist George Nick said, “Pack like Liz Taylor — bring everything.” Travel guru Rick Steves said, “Pack light — no one ever wishes their bags were heavier.” Seven days till departure, many choices. Don’t touch…