中国的画家村,最早形成于北京圆明园附近的福缘门村,1990年7月,一批艺术家陆续来这里租房子画画。从1993年开始,圆明园画家村渐渐被驱散后,艺术家们开始迁徙到宋庄、上苑、清河、门头沟、平西府、香堂、草场地等京郊的许多地方。与此同时,上海、昆明、深圳、广州、成都都陆续出现了艺术家聚居的地方,并自我发育成一个个艺术社区。而如今的798、方家胡同46号,则得益于艺术家或城市规划者对废弃工业仓库和车间的重利用。这些艺术社区逐渐进入城市的公众空间中,给城市生活带来新的内涵。当下存在的艺术社区如何能在艺术与刻意规划之间取得平衡,如何能生长成为自发的、商业的、与民众生活结合的多形态并存的健康样貌,这是城市发展中十分值得考量的问题。以纽约SoHo为例,商业化的艺术社区要保持其内在的活力与吸引力,前提是维护足够的艺术内涵和以艺术家为主体的诗意生活,软实力的体现不仅仅在形式的存在,更在于空间的具体内容。所以独立的艺术社区要给养自我的生长,更需要强大的世界观和创造力,以及在此过程中彼此连结的担当。商业的流速是协动力,真正的辐射力量在于艺术创作的本质。现今,北京的艺术社区或正处于与商业融合的阶段,或与城市若即若离互相观望,或陷于与利益暧昧不清的较量。在短浅的商业利益面前,这些“盒子”面临的命运可能是简单地被移除,或者被大肆地商业化、产业化。在普罗市民的认识中,可能除了798,其他的艺术社区几乎处于一种“被遮蔽”的状态。各个艺术社区所在的乡县级政府争相看好艺术这块招牌,大部分的当地居民与艺术家的相处相安无碍,但更多有益的流动性仍处于比较枯涩的状态。艺术社区与城市是否能最终达成融洽的关系,不仅取决于政府对城市规划的眼光,也离不开商业与市民的见识。 China’s painter village was first formed in Fuyuanmen Village near Yuanmingyuan in Beijing. In July 1990, a group of artists came here to rent houses for painting. Beginning in 1993, the artists’ village of Yuanmingyuan was gradually dispersed and the artists began to migrate to many places in the suburbs of Beijing, including Songzhuang, Shangyuan, Qinghe, Mentougou, Pingxi, Hutang and grass fields. In the meantime, Shanghai, Kunming, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Chengdu have witnessed the gathering of artists and developed themselves into art communities. Today, 798, Fang Hutong 46, thanks to the artist or urban planners on the abandoned industrial warehouse and workshop reuse. These artistic communities gradually entered the urban public space, bringing new meaning to urban life. How contemporary art communities can strike a balance between art and deliberate planning and how to grow into a multi-modal coexistence of spontaneous, commercial, and popular life is a question worth considering in urban development . For example, in New York SoHo, the commercial art community should maintain its intrinsic vitality and attractiveness on the premise of maintaining sufficient artistic connotation and poetic life with artist as the main body. The manifestation of soft power is not only in form but also in Specific content of space. Therefore, an independent arts community needs to provide for the growth of one’s own self. More, it requires a strong worldview and creativity as well as links to each other in the process. The flow of business is a synergistic force, the real radiation force lies in the essence of artistic creation. Nowadays, the art community in Beijing is either at a stage of commercial integration or just like watching the city wait and see, or in a vague ambiguity with the interests. In the face of short business interests, the fate of these “boxes” may simply be removed or largely commercialized and industrialized. In the general public’s understanding, apart from 798, other art communities are almost in a state of being “obscured”. The township and county governments where the various arts communities are located are vying with the signboard of art. Most of the local residents live in harmony with the artists, but more useful liquidity is still in a state of relatively stillness. Whether art communities and cities can finally reach a harmonious relationship depends not only on the government’s vision of urban planning but also on the opinions of businesses and citizens.