Arising from the context of the United States and the artist-run initiatives that developed in New York in the 1970s, the definition of “alternative art space” is commonly a venue, other than a commercial establishment, shaped by artists for the public presentation of artworks, including those of “non-traditional” media such as video, performance, and digital technologies.
Such an understanding of what constitutes an alternative space is complicated in many non-Western countries by the absence of public funding for the arts; under these conditions, alternative platforms often conduct their activities in a manner not entirely dissimilar to dealer galleries. This is the case in China, where alternative spaces generate income via art sales, rely on the personal funds of organizers or the largesse of a patron, or bloom and disappear like a night flower (granted, this is a global phenomenon: examinations of alternative spaces across Europe, the US, and Oceania,
