Since its establishment in 1992, Galerie Urs Meile has contributed to the presentation and dissemination of contemporary art, from painting and sculpture to photography, installation and video. The gallery is working from two locations: Lucerne (Switzerland) and Beijing (China). While its center of operations is based in Switzerland, the Beijing gallery – located in the center of the art district Caochangdi – has established itself as an international meeting place for collectors, curators, artists and aficionados of the arts. The gallery designed by Ai Weiwei reflects influences from traditional Chinese architecture. Five buildings host exhibition spaces and an artist-in-residence studio.

Galerie Urs Meile was one of the first international galleries to focus on the Chinese art scene and has been working on an international level with Chinese artists since 1995. The gallery represents established artists such as Ai Weiwei, Wim Delvoye (in Asia), Xie Nanxing, Qiu Shihua, Not Vital and Wang Xingwei, as well as emerging artists such as Cheng Ran, Li Gang, Christian Schoeler, Julia Steiner and Yan Xing.

The artist-in-residence program supported and run by Galerie Urs Meile in Beijing offers Western artists the opportunity to work in China for several months and establish a network within the Chinese art scene. In the frame of this cooperation, emerging and established artists present projects that have been site-specifically made for the Beijing gallery space.