Massive arts district to launch in 2019 in valley near Beijing
The Art Newspaper | Lisa Movius
Hebei, the province surrounding Beijing, will get a massive arts district of its own next year. At the Venice Architecture Biennale today (24 May), Guangdong Yuegang Investment Development unveiled plans for Valley XL, an Rmb 18bn (around $2.8bn) development designed by Arquitectonica across 400 hectares of Hebei’s Xinglong Valley. Valley XL is a special partner of China’s pavilion on rural development, Building a Future Countryside, and is hosting a symposium in Venice from 24 to 26 May.
The project is billed as an “eco-city” that will include a Modern and contemporary art museum, an art education district and artists’ studios along with commercial and residential areas. Construction is due to begin in the second half of 2018, jointly funded by Guangdong Yuegang and Shenzhen XL Culture Development. The prolific curator Li Zhenhua has already come on board as its advisor and the filmmaker and artist Ju Anqi is its project video director.
The soft opening will be in 2019 with the Valley XL Art Centre, an 8,500 sq. m venue for exhibitions as well as music and theatre performances, designed by Wang Zhenfei. The project’s first completed building will be “one of the key architecture highlights”, says Xiao Zeguang, the chairman of Guangdong Yueguang. Before the Valley XL Museum is established, the centre “will play a significant role in the project’s Art Zone, acting as a platform for artist exchange, hosting part of the overall exhibition programme, a symposium space and also restaurants”, Xiao says. An “art park” is proposed to the north…read more
Image: A rendering of the Valley XL development in Xinglong