Swiss gallerist René Meile on working in China
In 2006, Lucerne-based Galerie Urs Meile became one of the first Western galleries to establish itself in China. Their first space in Beijing was created by none other than Ai Weiwei, who was also one of the first Chinese artists the gallery represented. By 2017, it relocated to “798,” a trendy art district in China’s capital.
René Meile, the son of the gallery’s founder, is co-director and mainly responsible for the operations in Beijing. He studied sinology and speaks fluent Mandarin.
He spent the past 15 months in China and observed how the clientele shifted during the pandemic: “That’s something that interests me so much about China because the whole art system is not yet as structured as Western Europe—Switzerland, Germany, France, and so forth,” he tells Swizz Art Biz. Another difference he sees is that in Switzerland everyone in the art world knows one another while in China he still needs to do a lot of field work to grasp the scene.
“Be it about China or be it about art, I’ll keep learning until the end of my life.”
In this episode of Swizz Art Biz, he tells Tanya König why he tries to understand China through its art and culture rather than just geopolitics, why not every show is shut down immediately when showing sensitive content, and why it’s not always easy to work with Ai Weiwei. His next project? An exhibition by painter Wang Xingwei in Shanghai, set to open in April, when Meile hopes to return.
Watch the conversation on YouTube or listen to it on Spotify and Apple Podcast.
Galerie Urs Meile in Beijing, China.