The 9th edition of Gallery Weekend Beijing (GWBJ) officially concluded on June 1, 2025. As a core event of “Beijing Art Season”, this year’s GWBJ was anchored in the 798·751 Community and spanned iconic locals from CBD Art Zone, Caochangdi Art District to Aranya Art Center, activating the cultural energy across and beyond the city. During the 10-day program, GWBJ 2025 featured 55 high-quality exhibitions and more than 20 forums and social events, attracting over 520,000 visits. As of press time, GWBJ 2025 has generated over 1.5 billion global impressions.

This year, a major structural update was introduced in the exhibitor selecting process: shifting from the previous application-based model to an invitation-only model. The final lineup of exhibitors was determined through a rigorous review and voting process led by the Selection Committee comprising of Leng Lin (Founder, Beijing Commune), Luna Peng (Director, Galleria Continua Beijing), Qu Kejie (Founder, Magician Space), Tian Yuan (Founder, WHITE SPACE) and Xi Tao (Founder, A26 Space) – listed alphabetically by surname. The final lineup included 30 galleries and 11 non-profit art institutions, presenting a broad spectrum of artistic explorations ranging from painting, moving image, sculpture, installation to interdisciplinary new media. In parallel, more than 20 public programs and forums were organized, fostering deeper discourses between artists, curators and audience, and cultivating an art ecosystem that is brimming with vitality and innovation.

GWBJ 2025 collaborated with Antenna Space to present a special exhibition - Between the Shadow and the Highlight, the first duo exhibition by artists Wang Evelyn Taocheng and Xinyi Cheng in Beijing. The exhibition scenography, led by renowned designer and contemporary art collector Tian Jun, transformed the physical space into nine distinct yet narratively connected chapters, creating a somewhat expanded spatial experience. It accentuated the methodological divergences between the two artists’ practices while inviting viewers into a dialogue – and collective reflection – on intersecting themes such as “cultural translation”, “micro-narrative” and “body politics”.

The award system of GWBJ also underwent major updates this year by the introduction of an “intergenerational jury” mechanism. For the highly-anticipated Best Exhibition Award, GWBJ invited Chen Li, Fu Yuan, Liu Qianxi, Sun Wenjie and Wang Huan (listed alphabetically by surname), all young curators with deep knowledge of the Beijing art ecosystem, to form a preliminary jury and nominate 9 finalists. The final winner was then selected by a panel of 5 directors from leading non-profit art institutions: Carol Lu Yinghua, Philip Tinari, Tang Xin, Yang Beichen and Yan Shijie (listed alphabetically by surname).

The Best Exhibition Award was granted to Bug: Solo Exhibition by Guo Cheng at Magician Space. Consisting of two distinct yet interconnected scenarios: an uncanny data center and a peculiar outdoor field, the exhibition reflected on technical flaws, ecological symbiosis and the human condition within the lineage of life.

The Infinity Award, dedicated to celebrating avant-garde exploration in art, was independently selected by the 5 young curators of the preliminary jury. Something Comes from Nothing by Li Shurui at WHITE SPACE and 47 Days (Sound-Less) by Hanoi-based artist Nguyen Trinh Thi at SPURS Gallery tied for this award. Li Shurui’s solo exhibition blurred the boundary between abstraction and figuration through the fluid painting techniques; while Nguyen Trinh Thi’s work revisited cognitive conflicts through the poetry of moving image.

GWBJ 2025 launched “Art Store”, an initiative aiming to engaging a broader audience in a more open and accessible manner. Stool 32: The Seated Figure by Hou Zichao transformed a shipping container into modular furniture, ingeniously blending sports culture and consumer landscape. XiaoFang Pop-Up Store – How Much Is One Gram of Effort by Hu Yinping showcased hand-knitted pieces made in collaboration with women from her hometown, reshaping the narratives around manual labor and its values. Functional and conceptual, these artworks attracted widespread public attention and interaction while waiting for serendipitous encounters, effectively expanding the boundaries of artistic experience in the public sphere.

GWBJ 2025 invited Yuan Hong, actor and “Art Knock” founder, as its official ambassador. With his widespread influence and unique artistic insight, Yuan offered an accessible entry point into the liveliest scenes of contemporary art in Beijing. His involvement lent a distinctly humanistic and approachable tone to the event, while reinforcing the connections between the public and contemporary art and illustrating new ways to experience cultural spaces at one’s own pace.

Green Go Home, a special project supported by artists Tomas Vu and Rirkrit Tiravanija, was undoubtedly a highlight of GWBJ 2025. Through a rich program including dinner parties, performances, forums and workshops, Green Go Home effectively promoted engagement from both the art industry and the public and strengthened the sense of community within Beijing’s art scene. The project launched with the annual gala dinner celebrating local culinary culture and continued with an interactive after-party featuring live silkscreen printing and performance art.

As the highlight of the public days, Green Go Home also hosted a thematic forum “Food-Sharing · Co-Creation: Food Actions in Contemporary Art”. The forum delved into “food sharing” as a practice of social bonding and emotional connection and “co-creation” as a way to inspire creativity, public engagement and cultural rejuvenation through the lens of food. Food, in this context, transcended its physical properties and became a medium of action-making and relationship-building, inspiring people to reconsider “food sharing and co-creation” as a social and cultural practice. The accompanying food workshop encouraged direct public participation, truly turning culinary practice into a vehicle for social and cultural reflection.

The successful conclusion of the 9th Gallery Weekend Beijing not only demonstrated the profound heritage and dynamic innovative energy of Beijing’s art ecosystem, but also injected strong momentum into the “Beijing Art Season”. Moving forward, GWBJ will continue to champion innovation, empowering the flourishing development of art scene and ushering in a new chapter of urban cultural life.