Through her cinematic images, Anaïs Martane captures the world with a gaze both curious and tenderly detached. She photographed the « River Bar » — a small Beijing venue in the early 2000s that has since become legendary — where key figures of China’s independent music scene first emerged.
It was there that she met a generation of free-spirited artists marked by the gentle solitude of their era: the group Wild Children, Zhang Weiwei, Guo Long, Xiao He, Wan Xiaoli, Zhao Yiran, among others. Her lens followed their lives and creative impulses, leaving on film the traces of their youth and the silhouette of a post-millennial decade. Once bar singers, they have since become leading figures of contemporary Chinese music.
8lithèque
Founded in 2024, 8lithèque is a bookstore and cultural space dedicated to emerging Asian culture, located near the Fondation Cartier, the Institut Giacometti, and the Montparnasse Cemetery. Exhibitions by young Asian artists, screenings of independent films, literary encounters, publishing projects, high-quality coffee, and innovative lifestyles form the foundation of this singular venue.
8lithèque seeks to bridge geographic and temporal boundaries, pioneering the introduction of avant-garde cultural projects from Asiaa, and particularly from China to France.