NY Arts Magazine has a feature story about the Together with Migrants festival held this past summer in Beijing:
Hundreds of migrant laborers packed the exhibition hall at Jianwai SOHO provided by culture-savvy real-estate magnate Pan Shiyi. Many dressed in their finest attire, especially the young ones who aimed to show the assembled hordes of media at the UNESCO “Together with Migrants” Festival that “mingong” (the common term for migrant “peasant-workers”) have style and dignity just like any other social group. Curated by Zhu Qi, one of China’s most pioneering, risk-taking critic/curators, the “China’s Happiness and Pain” exhibition provided a visual compliment to the series of cultural events surrounding the festival that included public debates, poetry readings and even musical performances by migrants. [Full text]
Read more about the Together with Migrants Festival. See also a Danwei TV clip about the festival.
