I said my goodbyes to Songzhuang and my generous hosts Xinxin and Xuewu. For the remainder of my trip, I would be staying in Beijing. I had plans to get together with David Fraher and Wayne Lawson on Sunday night and to review a busy weeklong agenda of meetings and site visits. David had mined his contacts and set up a series of high-level meetings. Over soup bowls filled with fresh vegetables and hand-pulled noodles, we discussed our strategy for the week. There was some shared skepticism about the feasibility of our original exchange idea. As I had learned from Xinxin, Chinese artists lack the same institutional support networks - such as foundations or arts agencies - that artists in the US and Europe have access to. Building an exchange as we had originally envisioned might prove to be a more difficult challenge. The meetings we had lined up would be helpful to us to determine what was and wasn't achievable with this project.

Last supper with Xinxin, Xuewu, their daughter, and dog (hiding under the table)