
Lijiang Studio
The Lijiang Studio, residence, local studio and workshop, aims to: 1) Benefit local people with cultural intervention that is sensitive to their communities and traditions, providing a means for them to adapt to the massive influx of Western, global culture and forces of modernization in ways that enhance, rather than deplete, their culture. 2) Complement and foster growth in China's thriving arts communities, which presently exist in the outskirts of cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. To connect Chinese artists with a community rooted in China's rural culture, as an alternative to the urban Chinese experience. 3) Provide international artists with the opportunity to experience rural Chinese village life, as an alternative to the intense pressure and marginalized status of the international 'white box' art circuit. 4) Encourage new paths of artistic development and greater awareness of their work, both in China and internationally.
The Lashihai residency currently has 4 small double private bedrooms, and a dormitory with 4 beds. The residency has a shared kitchen and eating area, two showers, two sinks, and a special dry composting toilet. As it occupies a traditional family dwelling, living and working space has limited privacy.
Lijiang Studio’s residency at Lashihai is in the small town of Hainan, on the south end of Lashi lake. The residency is immediately adjacent to a local family’s house, to whom they are very closely connected. Because of this particular situation they are interested in work that can be relevant both here and elsewhere.