A Beijing landmark starts looking for a new owner as incumbent foreign patron says age isn't on his side, Lin Qi reports.

In the past nine years, the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art has evolved into a landmark venue in Beijing's 798 art district.

It has staged many high-profile exhibitions and shown works of major Chinese and Western artists, including Xu Zhen, William Kentridge and Taryn Simon.

But an announcement of the Guy and Myriam Ullens Foundation on Thursday suggested that UCCA's Belgian founder, Guy Ullens, is now looking for a new owner for UCCA - a "younger patron who can continue to develop this important arts institution".

Ullens explains in the statement that he is in his 80s and feels the need to hand over the ownership, and that he would sell artworks in his own collection through private channels and at auctions later this year. He says he would continue to support the center till a new benefactor turns up.

Ullens, who is known as a "patron of the arts in China for more than 30 years", constantly traveled to the country in the 1980s for family business in sugar and other food-related trades. He has assembled a number of Chinese artworks, the larger part being the contemporary pieces of leading artists such as Gu Wenda, Wang Guangyi and Zhang Xiaogang.

UCCA, a nonprofit that he funds through the Guy and Myriam Ullens Foundation, encompasses three factory buildings of the 1950s. It has received some 4 million visitors since the opening. News of Ullens' intention to sell UCCA has emerged since 2009, amid speculation that his family business was affected by the financial crisis beginning in the United States in 2008.

He cashed in by selling collected art in bulk at auctions: a Beijing sale of his collection of classical Chinese paintings in 2009 grossed 288 million yuan ($43.64 million); he sold an oil painting of Zhang Xiaogang for HK$79 million ($9 million) in 2011; and a Zeng Fan-zhi canvas for HK$180 million in 2013.

At the time Ullens denied he would also sell UCCA, explaining that he sold his collection because his age prohibited him from frequent travels to China and his children showed little interest in art. And now, the news of his likely renouncement of UCCA isn't a surprise in Chinese art circles.

"The Ullens are after all aged, and it (UCCA) is not a family business that can be inherited. It's not their duty or obligation to stay on," says Tang Xin, director of Beijing-based Taikang Space.

Li Suqiao, a critic in the Chinese art market, says: "Thanks to Guy Ullens' persistence ... He has shown enough kindness by supporting the center with 10 percent of the profits from selling his collection."

People are wondering who will take over UCCA's management, a mature Chinese private art museum but now also a hot potato. The center doesn't profit from representing artists like art galleries do, nor can it gain from selling or loaning collections - it has no collection of its own and shares no connection with Ullens' collection.

According to Xue Mei, chief executive director of UCCA, the operation of the center cost almost 41 million yuan in 2015 and the ratio of Ullens' investment decreased from 100 percent to 25 percent.

The center has been diversifying its sources of funds over the past five years. Annual sponsorships by enterprises and 49 members of its board of trustees contributed about 35 percent in 2015 and its art store, opened in 2012, brought in 20 percent. It also holds an annual charity auction at year end and the proceeds last year were 10.9 million yuan.

Still, UCCA needs a deep-pocketed benefactor who, as Ullens hopes, is willing to develop the institution's potential in supporting contemporary Chinese art and introducing Western art in the coming years.

Li Jianya, an art freelancer in Beijing, says: "The market for contemporary Chinese art is still recovering. And the local elites who collect contemporary pieces are in the middle of building their own galleries."

Despite the uncertainty, Xue says: "UCCA will stand strong and uphold its core values of highlighting artists from China and beyond, and encouraging the public to engage with contemporary art and culture."

Contact the writer at linqi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/05/2016 page20)