INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH

摘要

'You can call me V, says the owner of the cafe, as she slowly pours hot water from a glass vessel over freshly ground coffee in a mug. Perched on a bar stool in front of the pristine stainless-steel counter, I take the steaming brew from her, enjoying the light and breeze of the Z Gallery. In Shenzhen's Dapeng District, the Z Gallery forms part of an arts district named iD Town. Paintings and photos hang on the white walls of the gallery/cafe. V says most are by artists from the area. Looking out from the glass storefront openings, the scene outside is not of a street, but a whitewashed concrete wall with missing window panes, a reminder that the Z Gallery is nestled in the concrete shell of a former factory. The long volume and exposed metal water pipes on the factory floor allude to the large water tanks the building used to house. While seeming much older due to rust, stains and peeling concrete, the original building was the bleaching workshop of the Hongwa Dyeing Factory, a textile dyeing and printing factory built in 1989.