Information Detail - 798艺术区|798 Art District

798 Old Friends | Oscar-Winning Director: Rediscovering Inspiration at 798

If you ever hit a creative block or lose inspiration, come to 798.

—— Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is a German film director and screenwriter, born in 1973 in Cologne, Germany. He studied literature, political science, philosophy, economics, and film directing at institutions including Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, the University of Oxford, and the University of Television and Film Munich. Ultimately, he set his sights on filmmaking. At the age of 33, he rose to prominence with his directorial debut The Lives of Others. The screenplay, meticulously crafted over four years, captivated audiences with its gripping plot, measured storytelling, and rigorous dramatic structure. The film went on to win numerous international awards, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 79th Oscars. After serving as a jury member for the Tiantan Award in the 6th Beijing International Film Festival, Donnersmarck returns this year as a mentor for the festival’s Masterclass program.

During the Beijing International Film Festival, the acclaimed international director took time out of his busy schedule to visit the 798 Art District on Saturday, eager to catch up on the latest developments in Chinese contemporary art. According to Donnersmarck, he's a regular at 798—he makes a point to stop by almost every time he's in China. He spent the entire afternoon immersed in four exhibitions, viewing every piece in detail and watching each video work in its entirety. So absorbed was he that it wasn’t until 4 p.m. that he realized he hadn’t eaten lunch. Even at the dinner table, he continued jotting down notes from the day’s exhibitions, recording his impressions while they were still fresh.

At the end of his visit to 798, we spontaneously interviewed Director Donnersmarck about his experience with today’s exhibitions. Energized and enthusiastic, he spoke at length about his interpretations of many works, offering insightful observations that were both thoughtful and inspiring. “If you ever hit a creative block or lose your inspiration, come to 798,” he said. “It’s a reliable place—you’ll find ideas and rediscover your spark.” Donnersmarck shared that the work of the great artists here reignited his own creative drive. He emphasized the importance of lifelong learning and staying curious, saying it’s essential to becoming a better filmmaker.

798 Art District: How did you first learn about 798?

Donnersmarck: That was 15 years ago. The German ambassador brought me here, and I was immediately struck by the place. I was amazed that there was an art district so deeply engaged with the very things I truly care about. The art here was incredible—it felt like a kind of “Disneyland” for art.

Director Donnersmarck carefully examined artist Sui Jianguo’s sculpture portrait

I find it incredibly inspiring, which is why I’ve come here many times. Each time, my impression is the same—it’s getting bigger, better, and more exciting. I honestly believe that every capital city in the world should have a place like this, and I’ve never seen an art district quite like 798 anywhere else, certainly not on this scale. There’s a similar art district in Los Angeles, but it’s much smaller. In Munich, there’s the Kunstareal, which is trying something similar on a smaller scale, but it has never reached the level of 798. I truly hope other countries and cities can learn from this.

Director Donnersmarck visits the exhibition Chen Qi: Grand River at Asia Art Center.

798 Art District: Were there any artworks today that left a strong impression on you?

Donnersmarck: First, I have to mention the virtual reality exhibition at 798CUBE that imagines other worlds — “I Want to See Your Seeing.”

There’s a piece by Mélodie Mousset called Flower Worlds. In a virtual space, you can generate hands simply by pointing at something—then pointing again causes another hand to grow out from the first. It may sound abstract, but the experience is incredibly sensory. It invites you to reflect on life, your power, and the limits of being human—through a playful, almost superhuman lens.

多导在798CUBE参观展览“我想看见‘你的看见’”

Then there was an exhibition called Virtual Theater by Kiel Czobán. You see six different spaces, different rooms, and imagined humans of varying sizes. It completely frees you from your usual way of thinking. That’s the purpose of art, isn’t it? To help you see the world differently. And I think this incredible exhibition truly achieves that. I like to think of myself as someone with a flexible mind, but this piece genuinely shook my worldview a bit — which is exactly what great art should do. Suddenly, you’re seeing surreal human figures floating in a room. Or you step into what looks like an ordinary office, but it’s hosting a concert. There are tiny dancer figures performing on a desk, and you see a person abstracted into nothing more than a stick — working in a strange, mesmerizing way. You start to grasp new realities about art and performance. Each scene in this piece helps you see the world from a different angle. It’s deeply thought-provoking.

多导在798CUBE参观展览“我想看见‘你的看见’”

Then I went to UCCA Lab, and a few works there really left a deep impression on me. It was the first time I had truly watched a film by Yang Fudong, and it made me realize: we filmmakers need to upgrade our systems — or we’ll soon be completely outpaced by artists of his caliber. His visuals and emotional expression are so precise and powerful. As I entered the screening room, I saw abstract figures within a crafted artistic landscape, and a bull tethered to a rope — from his work The Collected Scriptures of Yu Gong. A woman approaches the bull, followed by a group of businessmen entering the scene. The performances were precise, subtle, solemn — and you immediately sense this is the work of a true master.

Then I watched a documentary about another one of his pieces, Dawn Breaking. I asked myself, how does he do it? It’s a massive production, where he stages traditional Chinese cinema inside an art museum. I’m not sure whether it’s about identity, perception, or the relationship between watching and being watched — but to me, he achieves a level of emotional depth far beyond what we usually reach in conventional narrative cinema.

Yang Fudong, New Film Project at the Art Museum – Dawn Breaking, 2018, on set, Image courtesy of Yang Fudong Studio and ShanghART Gallery. © Yang Fudong Studio

There were also several works by Raoul Marks, though I’m not familiar with his other pieces. One of them follows an astronaut leaving Earth and departing from the reality he’s in.The most visually striking work I saw was Journey of the Wind, a collaboration between Marks and Jia Aili. It makes you rethink the shape of mountains and the interplay of light and shadow in landscapes in a completely new way. These pieces were part of an exhibition called The Poetics of Fantasy, where they held great meaning and were deeply moving.

Raoul Marks, OG Astronaut (Opening Titles for Semi-Permanent 2015), 2015, 3 minutes 9 seconds.。

There’s also an artist named Shlazer Heshari with a deeply melancholic work called Cup and Rose. You see a water-filled container next to a wilting flower. The container looks so full and complete, but a tiny drop of water keeps falling into it until the container finally breaks. As you follow the trail of water and watch the container over the course of 5 minutes (or however long the piece lasts), you feel like you’ve lived an entire lifetime. I was truly amazed—it's incredibly moving. The music she chose to accompany it fits perfectly, giving the whole piece a very sorrowful, melancholic mood.

Shlazer Heshari, Cup and Rose, 2019, single-channel video installation. Image courtesy of Shlazer Heshari and Lisson Gallery.

Song Dong has a work about a father and son, where the artist placed a mirror—perhaps made of a plastic-like material—between himself and his father. The mirror is fully functional. Then Song Dong sets the mirror on fire, and the image starts to distort until it completely breaks down. Suddenly, the son’s reflection in the mirror transforms into the father, while on the other side, the father’s reflection changes into the son. The video is projected onto four screens at both ends of a room. It invites viewers to reflect on their own relationships with their parents and represents a universal beauty that transcends boundaries.

Song Dong, Father and Son Looking in the Mirror, 2001, two-channel video performance installation.

I believe places like 798 are incredibly important. If you ever hit a bottleneck or lose your inspiration, you can come here — it’s a reliable place where you’ll find sparks of creativity and rediscover your muse. Seeing the amazing work these artists are doing makes me feel humbled, and I hope it pushes me to become a better filmmaker.