On November 15, 2005, Denise Keele-Bedford, an artist from South Australia now living at the Beijing International Art Camp (BIAC), also known as Suojiacun Artists' Village, woke up to find a barricade across the streets of BIAC.

At 8:30 am, police encircled BIAC, home to 100 contemporary art studios and galleries that housed 126 artists.

By order of Chaoyang District People's Court all of the artists' studios were to be destroyed that day.

The entrances are closed and the D street is cut off by security tape, only the occupants of the street can enter the barricade with a maximum of 4 people of their choice to help them evacuate their artwork, and for some of the artists, all of their belongings.

Early in the afternoon two bulldozers started to demolish the homes: all the artists' studios of D street were demolished with windows and doors collapsing onto the street.

Then, at around 2:30 pm, a whistle blew and the police left. Keele-Bedford, along with other artists in the camp, were told that they only had 10 days to get out.

Suojiacun is situated near the highway to the airport. In its immediate vicinity are Dashanzi Art Zone and Feijiacun, both bustling artists' hubs in Beijing. Built last year, the art camp is divided into small streets and each artist is lodged in individual two-storey houses. The basement is usually for the exhibition while they live on the first floor. Visitors can freely go into each house to look.

Over the past year, a lot of artists including professors, academics, international artists, galleries and art curators have moved to BIAC.

Dodgy developer

BIAC covers 55 acres of land in Suojiacun. The land was previously rented by the developer Beijing Gaoyougao Co Ltd to grow turf. The business was at a slump, so early last year, under the suggestion of Li Gang, curator of Pickled Art Centre, the company decided to develop the land into a new art camp.

The construction started last April. One month later, the developer received a notice from local government to halt the project. The developer had received a land lease from the Suojiacun Village Council, but the village council did not have proper permission from central government.

After one month suspension, while the developer was still trying to register the development, the construction restarted and by the end of this May, the camp was built. The developer later explained that they had thought they would finally get the permission from the government.

In fact, they did not.

On May 11 the local government informed the developer that the construction was illegal and was to be torn down.

The developer kept the notice quiet and five days later applied for a re-consideration on the decision.

They counted on the government to reverse the decision and preserve the art camp "for the sake of art," just like at Dashanzi last year, but again they failed.

On June 10 the Chaoyang District People's Court issued an immediate action on the demolition. Until then, the artists in the camp had no idea about the imminent destruction.

Another way out?

At the sight of the giant yellow bulldozers entering the gates of the Artist Camp that day, Keele-Bedford said she felt devastated while gathering her own belongings, not knowing when her home and studio would be destroyed.

While Dashanzi wins rising fame and becomes so commercialized that in some artist's words, "is now degenerating into an art-theme park," Suojiacun has become a big hit with struggling artists seeking the perfect ambience. "Low rent, lots of space, an open atmosphere and an artistic vibe attracted me," said Bi Yu, a sculptor who moved his studio from Tongzhou District to Suojiacun several months ago. Now Bi has to move back to Tongzhou District when the Suojiacun art camp was bulldozed.

"Why this palace is being demolished is beyond my comprehension, for the opportunity to live, work and visit, the place focused on art and cultural exchange and should be encouraged by all," said Keele-Bedford, whose views are echoed by many in the art camp.

Before the artists could find time to argue with the developer, they launched a united campaign for the preservation of the art village. On June 16, the deadline before the camp was supposed to be torn down, the artists staged many demonstrations and sent petitions to various media and related government organisations.

The demolition was postponed. An official from Chaoyang District People's Court, who asked not to be identified, explained the delay was the result of the court's busy schedule. Li Jing, the law officer in charge of the case said: "The decision has been finalized. The village will be torn down sooner or later," (The Beijing News June 17). At the time of publication, no further or updated official comments are available from the court.

Meantime, the artists prefer to believe that their campaign has had an effect. Word started to spread among the artists that the government would allow the camp to remain for at least one to two years. Shang Yang is a professor from the Art Academy of the Capital Normal University. He recalled during the past five months, he had received several officials related to the project. "After finding out what the art camp was about, their attitude seems to have changed," he said.

He was as optimistic as the others before his studio on the D Street was torn down .

Artists are still working around the clock in hope to reverse the decision.

In a petition co-signed by around 10 international artists, Alessandro Rolandi from Italy, who was among the first to move into the art village, writes: "The styles and the kind of art in Suojiacun are multiple and not representative of only one approach, ideology or school of thought. Working, walking around, exchanging ideas in this place has been a very interesting and rich experience.

"The authorities together with the artists should work to find a way to legitimate completely the Suojiacun art village and preserve its value as a symbol of international artistic and cultural cross-over and as a means to allow Chinese art to grow and become well known and appreciated the world over."

(China Daily 11/25/2005 page4)