London power plant becomes China art show

LONDON, Oct 7: London's massive derelict Battersea power station has been turned into a giant gallery to exhibit some of China's leading artists.

Underlining the Western world's growing appetite for contemporary Chinese art, the iconic building on the River Thames is being opened to the public from October 8 to November 5 for a show called ''China Power Station: Part I''.

There they can see video and sound works by cutting edge Chinese artists as well as catch a glimpse of the imposing, crumbling red-brick shell before it is developed into a commercial and cultural hub by a Hong Kong property tycoon.

''This is one of London's great landmarks visible from the city as well as from the air,'' said Julia Peyton-Jones, director of the Serpentine Gallery and co-curator of the exhibition.

She called the power station, with its four towering white chimney stacks that appears on Pink Floyd's ''Animals'' album cover, a ''glorious ruin''.

Chinese architect Ma Qingyun, one of the featured artists, added: ''It almost feels like China because it is so raw. For us everything is shifting.'' Visitors will be led by guides into the disused power station, where they can see the gaping, roofless spaces, crumbling walls and rusting metal work, all signs of years of neglect.

The art is displayed in long, dark rooms in what used to be a turbine halls, where rain leaks through the ceilings and mud covers much of the concrete floors.

The first screen work is by independent film director Jia Zhang-Ke, and shows ordinary people on public transport to portray what everyday life is like for millions of Chinese.

Last month, Jia was the surprise winner of the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his film ''Still Life'', about the upheaval caused by China's giant Three Gorges Dam project.

Another work on the same floor by Zhang Pei Li evokes the propaganda films of Communist China while a third is a carefully choreographed martial arts fight.

On the next of three exhibition levels, Cao Fei's video ''Whose Utopia?'' explores the automation of Chinese society by filming the seemingly endless repetition of machines and workers in a light bulb plant.

The renovation of the power station, expected to cost around 1.5 billion pounds (LONDON, Oct 7: London's massive derelict Battersea power station has been turned into a giant gallery to exhibit some of China's leading artists.

Underlining the Western world's growing appetite for contemporary Chinese art, the iconic building on the River Thames is being opened to the public from October 8 to November 5 for a show called ''China Power Station: Part I''.

There they can see video and sound works by cutting edge Chinese artists as well as catch a glimpse of the imposing, crumbling red-brick shell before it is developed into a commercial and cultural hub by a Hong Kong property tycoon.

''This is one of London's great landmarks visible from the city as well as from the air,'' said Julia Peyton-Jones, director of the Serpentine Gallery and co-curator of the exhibition.

She called the power station, with its four towering white chimney stacks that appears on Pink Floyd's ''Animals'' album cover, a ''glorious ruin''.

Chinese architect Ma Qingyun, one of the featured artists, added: ''It almost feels like China because it is so raw. For us everything is shifting.'' Visitors will be led by guides into the disused power station, where they can see the gaping, roofless spaces, crumbling walls and rusting metal work, all signs of years of neglect.

The art is displayed in long, dark rooms in what used to be a turbine halls, where rain leaks through the ceilings and mud covers much of the concrete floors.

The first screen work is by independent film director Jia Zhang-Ke, and shows ordinary people on public transport to portray what everyday life is like for millions of Chinese.

Last month, Jia was the surprise winner of the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his film ''Still Life'', about the upheaval caused by China's giant Three Gorges Dam project.

Another work on the same floor by Zhang Pei Li evokes the propaganda films of Communist China while a third is a carefully choreographed martial arts fight.

On the next of three exhibition levels, Cao Fei's video ''Whose Utopia?'' explores the automation of Chinese society by filming the seemingly endless repetition of machines and workers in a light bulb plant.

The renovation of the power station, expected to cost around 1.5 billion pounds ($2.8 billion), is due to start next year.

The abandoned area will be turned into apartments, shops and hotels as well as a cultural centre, drawing comparisons with the nearby Tate Modern Gallery -- another former power station that has become a hugely successful modern art gallery.

REUTERS.8 billion), is due to start next year.

The abandoned area will be turned into apartments, shops and hotels as well as a cultural centre, drawing comparisons with the nearby Tate Modern Gallery -- another former power station that has become a hugely successful modern art gallery.

REUTERS