About Redtory

Following international standards for creative communities, the Guangzhou Redtory Art & Design Factory District, of which the RMCA is a part, has nurtured a wide range of cultural industries, institutions, outlets and amenities to create a living hub in the center of the city - a Central Art District (CAD) - that complements the Central Business District (CBD) nearby.  

The name “Redtory”refers to the spirit of the time in the 1950s, when the canning and food processing factories that characterize the site were built, in that it was an age that was both “red and devoted.” 

In a material sense, the name reflects the red-brick architectural complexes of the repurposed former factories that cover the district that in the Chinese language sounds like both the “红(red)专(devoted)厂(factory)” and the “red brick factory.”  Its English name, “Redtory,”  however, perhaps in a sonorous combination of opposites, is derived from the collision of the words “red” and “factory”. 

DAVID ELLIOTT

RESUMÉ

David Elliott is a British art historian, curator, writer and teacher who has directed museums in Oxford (MoMA 1976-1996), Stockholm (Moderna Museet, 1996-2001), Tokyo (Mori Art Museum, founding director 2001-2006), and Istanbul (Museum of Modern Art, 2007). He is currently Vice Director and Senior Curator at the Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art (RMCA) and Arts District in Guangzhou and chairman of the Advisory Board of MOMENTUM in Berlin.

He has held guest professorships at the Humboldt University, Berlin (Rudolf Arnheim Professor in the History of Art 2008) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Department of Cultural Management 2008-2016).

A specialist in Soviet and Russian avant-garde, as well as in modern and contemporary Asian art, he has published widely in these fields as well as on many other aspects of contemporary art. In 2008-10 he was Artistic Director of The Beauty of Distance: songs of survival in a precarious age, the 17^th  Biennale of Sydney; in 2011-12 he directed The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: rebirth and apocalypse in contemporary art, the inaugural International Biennale of Contemporary Art in Kyiv; from 2012 to 2014 he was Artistic Director of A Time for Dreams, the IV International Moscow Biennale of Young Art; and from 2014 to 2016 he was Artistic Director of The Pleasure of Love, the 56^th  October Salon in Belgrade.

During 2015-18 his exhibitions have included Art from Elsewhere. International contemporary art from UK galleries (Birmingham, Eastbourne, Bristol), BALAGAN!!! Contemporary Art from the Former Soviet Union and Other Mythical Places (Berlin), Shen Shaomin THERE IS NO PROBLEM (Guangzhou), Social Fabric: new work by Kwan Sheung Chi and Marianna Hahn (Hong Kong) and Bread & Roses: Four Generations of Kazakh Women Artists (Berlin).

Art and Trousers: Tradition and Modernity in Contemporary Asian Art, his new book, will be published by ArtAsiaPacific, Hong Kong/London in 2019.09.18.

FORCED CLOSURE OF REDTORY MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART AND REDTORY ART+DESIGN FACTORY GUANGZHOU

20.11.2019

It is with inexpressible regret that we are forced to announce the immediate closure of the Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art (RMCA), along with the whole district of Redtory Art+Design Factory of which it is part, from 21 November 2019. After a long period of disputation, the relevant authorities have given three days’ notice for evacuation of all premises and we have no alternative but to comply. Our current exhibition Connections and Fractures, Images of Transcendence from the Collection of RMCA and all other related exhibitions and events have now been canceled and closed.

Redtory began ten years ago when a small group of people with lofty ideals in Guangzhou realised that the derelict, recently evacuated, 17 hectares site of a former food processing and canning works which had gone through half a century could be transformed to a cultural landmark open to the public, an urban space providing a much-needed local facility for contemporary art, design, architecture, education and leisure. Under the guidance of the government and the cooperation of all sectors of society, the project was put into practice.

The district was one of few surviving industrial heritage sites from the early days of the People’s Republic when its architecture and technology had been gifted by the USSR as a sign of friendship. Unlike other such gifts, surviving in other parts of China, the style of its architecture was not in the prevailing neo-classical style of Stalinism, but in the functional, modernist style of Constructivism that by the 1940s and ‘50s had become suspect in the mainstream discourse of the USSR, but which could be tolerated away from the centre.

During its ten years of existence, the RMCA has consolidated a vital part of the fabric of the nation’s heritage and has also provided a platform for artists, designers and architects from all over the world to create and exhibit their work. In addition, it has staged a large number of multifaceted exhibitions of local, national and international importance, as well as the related programmes for public education, cultural lectures, international artist-in-residence creation, off-campus practice, and urban communication. This, with its comfortable, low-rise architecture, its relaxed and beautiful ambience, its multifarious bookshops and restaurants, the sports field at its centre, the parkland throughout the district, and countless ancient trees, will all faced with their doom and gloom.

Even though we have never sought any financial support or policy preference from the relevant authorities, we expected that they would understand and appreciate the scale of the efforts made by various cultural and art organizations in the Redtory artdistrict, especially by RMCA, which has presented their cultural significance in this city and their contribution to an era of soft power. The lack of vision is deeply disquieting, and what we spent ten years to finally achieve is indifference. As the wreckers’ machinery moves in, and the past dissolves before our eyes so does our efforts.

How will the benefit of a rather matured urban creative space be replaced by yet more needless and characterless tower blocks?

In distress, we still want to express our sincere gratitude to all peers and citizens who have supported and helped the Redtory and participated in its various projects and activities! All along, their constantly encouraging and criticizing urged us to move forward. Without everyone's joint efforts, the Redtory could not become one of the cultural marks of a famous city with its long-standing history.

广州红专厂当代艺术馆暨红专厂艺术与设计工厂

关闭通告

2019年11月20日

我们怀着无法言喻的遗憾，不得不宣布：自2019年11月21日起，红专厂当代艺术馆及其所在的红专厂艺术与设计工厂的整个艺术园区即行关闭。尽管在过去较长的一段时间里，我们做出了种种的申辩与努力，有关部门仍然下发了要求园区内所有房屋建筑及附属场地在三日内彻底迁离的通知。对此，我们别无选择，唯有服从。我们当前的展览“关联与断裂：红专厂当代艺术馆藏品中的超验图像”和其他所有与本园区相关的展览和活动亦均予取消和关闭。

红专厂诞生于十年前。当时，广州的几位有志之士感到，可以将这个历经半个世纪，占地17公顷，行将被拆毁的食品加工罐头工厂，改造为一个对公众开放的文化地标，一个在其中展示当代艺术、设计与建筑，进行艺术教育，提供休闲生活的城市空间。在当时的政府引导以及社会各界的通力合作下，项目得以付诸实践。

红专厂园区是中华人民共和国建国初期存留至今的为数不多的工业历史遗产，其建筑和建造技术来自前苏联的支援。但与在我国其他许多地区存留下来的象征中苏友谊的建筑遗址不同，红专厂建筑的风格并非盛行于斯大林执政时期的那种新古典主义风格，而是构成主义风格，亦即崇尚功能的现代主义。在1940年代与50年代，这种风格虽然受到前苏联主流体系的质疑与排斥，但在这样一个远离中心的地方，却可以被允许存在。

十年来，红专厂当代艺术馆不仅将国家工业历史遗产建构中最有活力的一部分凝结保存起来，而且还为来自世界各地的艺术家、设计师和建筑师提供了一个创造和展示其作品的平台。此外，它还举办了大量对地方、对不同领域，在国内外均具有重要意义的展览，并配合许多与展览相关的公共教育、文化讲座、国际艺术家驻地创作、高校实践和城市交流活动。这一切，连同园区里那些令人舒适惬意的历史建筑，那种令人轻松自在的深幽环境，那些形态各异的书店和餐馆，中心足球场、各区公园绿地，还有数之不尽的古树，统统都将面临多舛的命运。

尽管以红专厂当代艺术馆为代表的园区各类文化艺术机构所付出的不懈努力，它们对这个城市的文化影响力，对这个追求软实力的时代作出了不可磨灭的贡献。但事与愿违，十年努力，终于还是无法逆转被关闭的命运，随着一台又一台从事推倒和拆卸的大型机械鱼贯而入，往昔的一切将在我们的眼前沦为一片废墟，化为乌有。

痛心之余，仍要对曾经支持和帮助过红专厂，参与过红专厂各类活动的同行们、市民朋友们致以最真挚的谢意！一直以来，是你们不断的鼓励、批评和鞭策，督促我们砥砺前行。没有大家的共同努力，红专厂不可能成为广州这座历史名城的一张文化名片。

在推土机的隆隆声中，愿我们心中对艺术的热爱、韧性与力量，永不熄灭。