Originally published on e-flux Frieze 11 June 2026

In the small project room of Magician Space, Beijing, one of three calligraphy works by Li Xianting offers an instructive lens through which to engage with the 2026 installment of Gallery Weekend Beijing (GWB). Li is better known in China as the firebrand critic who edited Fine Art from 1979 to ’83, but the exhibition is a reminder that he is also an important artist. The largest work, Art is the Politics of an Individual (2025), offers a detailed reflection on the purpose of art. In energetic sweeps of black ink, Li writes: “Art is a form of expression grounded first and foremost in the moral dimension within the artist’s inner world . . . one’s genuine conscience and position.”

Morality, positionality, and the individual are big, potentially very abstract ideas. With thirty exhibitions included by invitation only, GWB offers, on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, a significant opportunity to connect such ideas to specific practices and ask whether today’s generation of artists are engaging with Li’s ideals. Anchored in the 798 Art District, a vast former electronics factory complex in east Beijing, now home to many galleries, cafes, and boutiques, GWB is set across many spectacular buildings. High vaulted ceilings. Polished concrete floors. Béton brut and breeze blocks. In these striking spaces, there is a tendency for art to overinflate—too big or too much or both.

Read the rest of the review on e-flux

Images: cover: detail of Li Xianting The Artist at Magician Space, Beijing
1. Xing Hao, Arrested, 2025. Oil, oil pastel and pigment stick on linen, Hive Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing
2. Cheng Xinhao, Stratums and Erratics, 2023-24. Still from single-channel video (121:09 minutes) at Tabula Rasa, Beijing
3. Luan Xueyan, view of Void with Wind, MACA Art Centre, Beijing, 2026