Beijing Events

Accommodating Reform: International Hotels and Architecture in China, 1978-1990

Multiple dates 10:00 am - 19:00 pm Toggle calendar
Event QR Code
At which venue:
on-sight (RMB 30) and online (RMB 20)

From 19 August to 23 October, the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art presents “Accommodating Reform: International Hotels and Architecture in China, 1978 – 1990”, an exhibition tracing the emergence and development of the international hotel as an architectural and cultural phenomenon in China during the late 1970s and 1980s. Featuring models, plans, photographs, ephemera, and artworks related to seven iconic buildings in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Guangzhou, the exhibition is curated by architectural historian and Hong Kong University associate professor Cole Roskam. Consolidated and presented together for the first time, these materials recall a vibrant if uncertain era of artistic and intellectual exploration.


Throughout the early years of “Opening and Reform,” the comprehensive program of economic liberalization initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1978, international hotels lay at the core of China’s efforts to spur economic development while limiting the potential for political destabilization. In theory, these spaces offered new, liberalized environments through which foreign capital, ideas, and expertise could be safely decanted over time. In practice, they heralded a series of dramatic ideological and operational transformations that opened China’s major cities, reshaped its built environment, and set the stage for future growth. As Chinese officials, architects, and planners worked with foreign investors, designers, and developers to define, articulate, and control the contours of the country’s reform agenda, new types of cross-cultural exchange took shape within international hotels around the country.


Ticketing


“Accommodating Reform: International Hotels and Architecture in China, 1978-1990″”New Directions: Nadim Abbas”


Exhibition Period: 2016.8.22 – 2016.9.18 Ticketing Regulations:


1. General admission tickets available on-sight (RMB 30) and online (RMB 20); (Please note: Thursdays are no longer free.)


2. Students and senior citizens with the proper identification receive a 50% discount on the ticket price at the door.


3. Admission is free for children under 1.4 m tall (with chaperone);


4. Admission is free for UCCA members (included in RMB 200 membership fee/yearly member card);


5. For group ticketing information, call +86 10 5780 0200 or inquire over the official UCCA WeChat.

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