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Carol Lu has written a long piece here on artist initiatives to open their own small spaces and exhibit their work on their own terms…
Quote:

Excitement is building, with no formal press release, no art jargon, no market glamour, no hierarchy. HomeShop in Beijing, Small Productions in Hangzhou, and the Observers Association in Guangzhou are all self-sufficient, independent, conceptually ambitious, low-budget, and flexible. They are immune to the commercial uncertainty of the art system and empowered by new artistic visions and achievements. However, though they may suggest alternate paradigms for artistic and exhibition models, the market remains very much the primary site for the production and contemplation of art in China at the moment, and this obscures initiatives that fail to generate any immediate commercial activity or profit. Most curators and critics here are unable to engage with such practices, and tend to dismiss them as too marginalized and vernacular for their rejection of mainstream forms. But just as the manifesto of Small Productions suggested, “Small Productions is a big them.” Such productions respond to very specific concerns arising from artists’ and curators’ practices, connecting them to specific contexts, whether geographical or theoretical. Their existence doesn’t affirm common knowledge, but raises as much doubt as it does interest.