Serpentine Pavilion to launch in Beijing

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Serpentine Pavilion to launch in Beijing | The Serpentine Pavilion Beijing will launch in May in Wangfujing, Beijing, and will run until October. The temporary structure has been designed by Jiakun Architects and continues the Serpentine’s temporary pavilions initiative first launched in 2000. Serpentine Pavilion Beijing will be the first Serpentine Pavilion to have been built outside London, though past iterations were reinstalled in France and Albania. The structure’s design was inspired by Confucianism, and the final product will include a curved beam and elastic cables to emulate the form of an archer.

Ancient Syrian temple damaged by air strikes | A Neo-Hittite temple built by Arameans in the first millennium BC has been seriously damaged by Turkish air strikes, says the BBC. The temple of Ain Dara, which stands near the city of Afrin, Syria, was devastated by Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels aiming to force Kurdish militia out of the historic city. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based organisation, said that roughly 60 per cent of the temple was destroyed on Friday. The temple was particularly heralded for its basalt carved lions which were destroyed in the attack.

Minnesota Museum of American Art commences major expansion project | The Minnesota Museum of American Art has begun work on its major new expansion in downtown St. Paul’s historic Pioneer and Endicott buildings. The $12.5 million project will secure an extra 20,000 square feet for St. Paul’s only art museum, which holds 4,500 works of American art. The first phase of the expansion will open in the spring, and the new gallery space will open in 2019.

Lacma’s expansion plans approved by LA council | The Los Angeles City Council has granted permission to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) to build an outpost in the less prosperous southern part of the city. The approved plan gives Lacma a 35-year lease on the nine-acre South Los Angeles Wetlands Park, allowing the museum to renovate an 84,000-square-foot building on the site, which will be used for exhibitions, storage, and community focused events. Lacma hopes to expand even further in the southern LA region, and is currently considering another site in the Earvin Johnson Park.