My umbilical cord rarely lets me leave the second ring road, but one of my favorite places to visit when I feel like roughing it in the boonies is Pingguo Shequ. Better known to CBD expats as "Pingod" (*cringe*, who came up with that one, Lil B?), Pingguo Shequ is a little cluster of art galleries, cafes, boutique shops, and artist studios on Baiziwan Lu, just east of the third ring road, between the Guomao and Shuangjing stops on Subway Line 1. I've gone there for a number of reasons — my band practices there, and I've known a few artists and curators who work in the zone. It's a tight little community of people somewhat awkwardly shoved in the cracks between art and commerce, located as it is just south of Beijing's Central Business District. Though I'm still a hutong weasel to the core, I ventured out to Pingguo the other day for a little outer-2nd-ring vacation. Here's what's up over there... *** The main purpose of this trip was to visit Today Art Museum, a private, non-profit exhibition space primarily showing contemporary Chinese and international art. I've passed by this thing about a hundred times on my various, random Pingod excursions over the years, and always wrote it off as a poor man's UCCA. Probably just on account of the cookie-cutter chrome statue dudes clustered outside of it. Very 798 zombie / "Beijing Pop": But this judgement is unfair. Today Art Museum has established a strong identity since opening in 2002. They consistently host compelling exhibits, as well as a strong program of non-commercial events and installations. (For an example, keep an eye on their ongoing eco-art series, Today Culture Salon.) TAM just opened a trio of exhibits to kick off the new year, so that was my impetus to finally check in. Today Art Museum is actually spread across three separate buildings within the Pingod complex. The one pictured above, with the imposing facade, is the one you'll notice first, and it's the largest, housing three floors of exhibition space. That's also where you cop your tickets. 20rmb a pop (15 for students). The entrance lobby also presents a spectacular CBD view on a clear day, sort of slyly framing a piece I like to call "the gallery of China-capitalist post-modern architectural excess": The first show you'll encounter if you visit between now and mid-March is Naissance, a loosely focused, kaleidoscopic acid-drop into the world of contemporary Chinese art curated by Zhang Honglei. "Curated" is perhaps too strong a word. I couldn't pick out any conceptual or aesthetic thread unifying the works on display in Naissance, but of all of Today's current shows, it was definitely the most fun. Ah... so that's what the guy who did that George Washington video has been up to! These praying hands start rubbing against each other and dropping dust when you get up close. Creepy. Beware this mirror box thing. Straight up almost did not find my way out. Feel like there's some really deep post-structuralist theory joke about mirrors to make here but Morgan's not answering his phone... #Artselfie I have this recurring nightmare where I'm back in university and I can't graduate for some reason, and also my entire curriculum is real estate agents' phone numbers. Needless to say, this piece terrified me. *** The main exhibit up now at Today Art Museum is The Transformation of Canadian Landscape Art Inside&Outside of Being. This one is broken up into three sections, spreading across the third and fourth floor of Today's main building and the entirety of a secondary building behind the main one, next to the requisite gift shop. This one's a real sprawler, with the only narrative unity coming from the artists' shared nationality, and an ostensible focus on "landscape". The work is really all over the place, including painting, photography, sculpture, film, installation, sound art, plus every indexical trace of process and documentation falling in between. Here's a sampling of pieces I thought were the prettiest or most thought-provoking: Edward Burtnysky - "Albert Oil Sands #14" Bonnie Devine - "Letter to Sandy" (diptych) Ed Pien - "Revel" This one... ...is a bunch of cherry tomatoes stuck onto the wall. "Invisible in the Light" by Gu Xiong. I really liked this one, a chromatographic print by photographer and conceptual artist Andrew Wright: I tried to get a close-up of the crushing nothingnessless exuded by the black part of the image, a harrowing and wholly engrossing representation of formlessness and void that sucked me in and left me mute, questioning my own identity as a separate entity brought into being by contrast with the dazzling, glittering white ice sheet up top, brighter and realer even than the classically institutional white gallery walls nominally "framing" the artwork and my embodied experience thereof; a close-up capturing the feeling of unreality that a static image can project onto its surroundings, even when it itself is supposed to be the object of artifice; a close-up to capture this stunning deep black that held me entranced in holy terror... but all that came out was another #artselfie :( *** If you're like me, you leave any edifying trip to the museum totally amped to CONSUME. Right in between Today buildings 1 and 2 is their own in-house Art Derivatives Center, aka cheap knockoffs warehouse. Even this monk, otherwise wholly divorced from the world of material gain and possession, got suckered into buying a stuffed bear for his girlfriend's cousin. If you've got a bit of scratch piled up, there are a number of commercial galleries not affiliated with Today Art Museum — although, in classic Beijing fashion, most of them have "Today" disingenuously attached to their name — ready to sell you some ART. Here's a perfect one for the Dionysian, Eyes Wide Shut-style orgy planner on your list, assuming you're a multimillionaire. That Pingod life: *** If you're itching to pick up something a bit more hip and urban, check out this weird vintage store, PSYCHO RECYCLE: Pretty rad spread of knickknacks and very expensive fashion items. A little something for everybody, really. Especially for women with expensive taste in clothing. But also everyone else. Tru. Word. My tonsil what now... Andy Warhol is spinning in his grave at the prospect of this POPART digital watch. Spinning in his grave, cackling uncontrollably with maniacal glee. JK, he's not dead and he will see points on the sale of this watch. "Hey babe, I know how much you like chicken feet, so I got you this necklace. Happy Valentine's Day!" If you were looking for a ridiculously oversized phone case with a hideous, obese baby for a handle, sorry, I just got the last one. *** "Decorated with neon orange bannisters and outsize album art reproductions, peopled by an odd dozen 20-somethings who look like they jumped out of some future Supreme lookbook, today's Modern Sky office looks like Willy Wonka's factory would if it produced skateboards and had a Silicon Valley zip code." Yeah, holds up. The Modern Sky empire's Death Star is located in Pingguo Shequ, just across the way from a basement practice space where some of their biggest stars rehearse. *** "I'm in the nacho place..." "I'm in the nail salon..." "I'm in the combination nacho place and nail salon..." Ha... Das Racist joke. Sup 2009! I checked though and they don't have nachos. Moving on. *** You can take this pottery class in Pingguo Shequ. It's open to novices and advanced potters alike, but there's one hard and fast rule: no ghosting. They're pretty strict about that. *** OK, all this browsing of things I can't afford has made me ravenously hungry! There is a wide range of dining options in Pingguo Shequ. Coming in at the absolute lowest price point is this little hole in the wall called "fast cabbie cafeteria." It's almost literally a hole in the wall. Looks pretty gnarly. Did not check the menu but I think it's like, rice boxes. If you're in Pingguo Shequ and you're not a taxi driver waiting for the artist who called you up on kuaidi dache but is running a few minutes late, you're probably not eating here. The taxi driver spot is right next to this posh coffee shop, whose English name I think is "way above your pay grade cafe." Beijing, always keeping it real with the direct juxtaposition of opposites! In the middle price-range, there's this nice homestyle Dongbei joint, a favorite of the not-quite-starving but also not-rolling-in-it artists working in this zone. Gang Ji (刚记饺子家常菜): We got some of the house specialties, Dongbei gutbusters like suan ni qiezi (蒜泥茄子) and guobao rou (锅包肉). The latter is like this deep-fried glutinous pork thing covered in a sticky, sweet sauce that hardens as soon as it's not kitchen-hot. Not so big on the healthy foods, Dongbei. This place also makes colorful veggie jiaozi, they're good. We did not try to bone marrow + plastic bendy straw but you can also hit that up for sure. There's also a decent burger spot in Pingod, Plan B. They have a revolving daily special. When I was there it was a POUND of wings for 25rmb, but Morgan wasn't answering his phone so I just went with the house burger. Maybe try to hit it on a Monday, when the burgers are buy-one-get-one. *** Well, that's a day out at Pingod, less obnoxiously referred to as Pingguo Shequ, thanks. For your own PGSQ adventure, start at Today Art Museum. Really a quality institution. They're open daily from 10am-6pm. Find that on a map in the listing, and then just snake your way around the glittery facades to find all the other stuff mentioned in this article. Have fun!