Beijing 2003 (2004)
Beijing 2003 is a video about the city that the artist lives in, and its people. Participants include assistants Liang Ye and Yang Zhichao, and driver Wu. The piece took 16 days to complete, starting on October 18, 2003. Beginning below the Dabeiyao highway interchange, the vehicle from which the video is shot travels every street within the 'fourth ring' of Beijing, one by one. Approximately 2,400 kilometers and 150 hours of footage later, it ends where it began: below the Dabeiyao highway interchange. Through the windshield, the camera objectively investigates all visual information that appears before the vehicle - the spatial state of the city's streets, the endlessly changing times, scenery, movements, behavior and other aspects - thoroughly, meticulously, and calmly recording the megacity of Beijing through a single lens. The sum of the entire process becomes the meaning of the work.
- Date of release
- 2004-01-01
- TMDB
- 1.5 / 10 (2)
- Runtime
- 150h 0m
- Genres
- Documentary
- Director
- Ai Weiwei
Interesting facts
Beijing 2003 is a 2004 experimental documentary film by Chinese contemporary artist and filmmaker Ai Weiwei. The film consists of continuous street-level footage recorded throughout Beijing and is notable for its extreme duration and conceptual approach to urban documentation. At 9,000 minutes, it is one of the longest films of all time.
Production
Beijing 2003 was filmed over a period of sixteen days beginning on October 18, 2003. Using a camera mounted inside a moving vehicle, the project recorded every street within Beijing's Fourth Ring Road. The resulting footage totals more than 150 hours, presenting an unedited traversal of the city's road network.
The project was conceived during a period of rapid urban transformation in Beijing and reflects Ai Weiwei's interest in surveillance, infrastructure, and the everyday experience of contemporary Chinese cities.
A book was also published in 2004 titled Beijing 10/2003, which contains 1,760 stills from the film.
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