Thursday I met up with Ed and introduced him to my friend Tashi. She was interested in showing him her photography and film projects; and had questions about residency programs in the US. We ate lunch together and then the three of us went on a site visit of Platform China, which runs a gallery and international residency in the Caochangdi Art District in Beijing.

Jaime Molero, the residency program assistant, gave us a tour of the residency facilities, which included two spacious live/work spaces. They also had three additional studio/apartment spaces at a separate location. It was helpful to have Ed's perspective on this visit, especially since he runs his own residency program. The program caterers to foreign artists and costs approximately $1,300 per month to rent the spaces. At the end of the residency stay, the artist can choose to have either an open studio or exhibition. The goal of the program - and the gallery - is to introduce international artists locally and to create opportunities for artistic exchange.

After the tour, Jaime introduced us to Sun Ning, the director of the organization. We sat down with her for tea and continued our discussion. It was interesting to hear her talk about the expectation of Chinese artists abroad: that they tend to feel more comfortable traveling and working in a group and in a program that offers a structured agenda. This surprised me because I had been under the assumption that Chinese artists would want a similar type of unstructured, unbounded experience as their Western counterparts. Ed mentioned he had noticed this tendency among Chinese artists in his interactions with them - as well as with artists from other Asian countries.

Tashi suggested that we visit the studio of her photography professor, which was nearby. It turned out to be a bit of a walking adventure. We crossed railroad tracks, slid down a vine-covered gulley, and stepped delicately around large puddles of mud. En route we stopped in at Galerie Urs Miele, a Swiss-run gallery that also hosts artists-in-residence. We met with Nataline Colonnello, the gallery's artistic director. Because it is a commercial venture, the artist-in-residence is expected to produce work that will be sold as part of a show at the end of his or her residency stay. It was a beautiful facility and an interesting program model. There is a sister gallery in Lucerne, Switzerland, which also runs a residency program. The gallery in Beijing cultivates young Chinese artists and uses its satellite location in Europe to introduce their works into the market there. The artists are sent to Lucerne and participate in gallery shows and a residency program. This model is implemented in reverse as well, with European artists and artwork being introduced to the Chinese market.

We finally made it to the studio of Tashi's professor. It was in a tightly packed complex of buildings designed by Ai Wei Wei. Each building looked exactly the same: a non-descript, red brick box. The effect was intriguing and somewhat discombobulating. The interior of Prof. Chen Changfen's studio was spacious. He is a successful photographer and had recently been the subject of an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Gigantic photographic murals hung from the ceiling. His interest and specialty is large format photographic images of the Great Wall. We joined him and his son for tea and then he invited us to attend an exhibition and have dinner together. Before we left, he showed us a beautiful self-published book of his photographs. Each image was printed on hand-made Chinese rice paper and then the collection of pages was bound in leather.

Visiting at Platform China

Sculpture in the Galerie Urs Miele courtyard

Close-up of sculpture

Touring the Galerie's residency space with Nataline

Studio visit with photographer Chen

A book of Chen's photographs printed on handmade paper

Tea with Chen and his son, Peng