798 artist locked out over rent dispute

An art center in 798 Art District, which was booked to hold the opening ceremony of the  annual European Film Festival, was closed twice last week due to a rent dispute with the property management company.

Xu Yong, a photographer known for his Hutong Series photos and manager of 798 Space, said Sunday that it was again closed by Beijing Sevenstar Electronics Co Ltd, the property management company for the 798 Art District.

Sevenstar had allowed 798 Space to open temporarily Saturday night to host the opening banquet of the 5th European Union Film Festival, said Xu. 

"But they didn't open the door Saturday until I promised to give them all the proceeds from the banquet," said Xu. He said this would be 70,000 yuan ($11,207) paid by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China for the venue.

Xu said that Sevenstar had raised his rent by 2.5 times, and he now cannot afford it. 

"The Space has contributed much to promoting arts and culture in the 798 Art District and has not earned much money," said Xu.

A Sina microblogger named lam Datong, posted Saturday that due to the financial crisis in 2008, Sevenstar only charged Xu four months' rent in 2008 and 2009. In 2010 and 2011, Xu still only paid four months' rent. However, he earned millions of yuan by renting the Space to others. It was not possible to verify the microblogger's identity.

Xu denied the posted allegations, but claimed that Sevenstar's rental income from the 798 Art District increased from hundreds of thousands of yuan in 2002 to more than a hundred million yuan last year.

Xu refused to reveal how much his annual rent is, but he did admit that in past years, he had benefited from preferential rental policies.

Since 2010, about 30 artists have left 798 Art District for Songzhuang Art Zone (SAZ), Tongzhou district, due to rising rents, Hong Feng, director of the Art Promotion Association of SAZ, told the Global Times.

Kuang Laowu, an artist who has worked in SAZ for over  10 years, said that 798 Art District could not have become well-known without these artists.

"Art is vivid only when artists stay," he said, "Sevenstar should raise the rent according to artists' financial ability."

Sevenstar did not respond to telephone calls Sunday.