China to build $2.8bn arts district near Beijing

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

China to build $2.8bn arts district dedicated to arts near Beijing | The development of a 400-hectare arts district in the Hebei province of China, was announced yesterday at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Art Newspaper reports. Valley XL, which was unveiled by Guangdong Yuegang Investment Development, has been termed an ‘eco-city’ and is set to include a modern and contemporary art museum, space for artists’ studios, an art education district and commercial and residential areas. The $2.8bn project, to be built around 97km northeast of Beijing, has been linked to President Xi Jinxing’s project for integrating Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei into a single megalopolis.

Robert Indiana’s house to become a museum | The late US Pop artist Robert Indiana, who recently died at the age of 89, is to be turned into public museum, according to the stipulations of his will, Press Herald reports. Indiana’s will, which was filed today in Knox County Probate Court, leaves almost his whole estate to a not-for-profit organisation, named Star of Hope Lodge, which will oversee the renovation of his house and studio into a museum.

Elizabeth Duggal appointed deputy director at the Guggenheim | The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation announced yesterday that Elizabeth Duggal is to become the institution’s deputy director and chief operating officer. Duggal, who is currently director at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, will assume the position from 9 July.

Recommended Reading | In the New York Times, Jason Farago talks to the paper’s senior fashion critic, Vanessa Friedman, and the columnist Ross Douthat about the Met’s ‘Heavenly Bodies’ exhibition. In the TLS, Rod Mengham reviews Tacita Dean’s trio of London exhibitions; and the Nation’s film critic Stuart Klawans watches Sara Driver’s documentary about Jean-Michel Basquiat, in which the artist is both ‘the film’s chief presence’and ‘chief absence’.