A CLUSTER of modern art galleries are to be built near a world cultural heritage site in Sichuan Province. It is the first time the Chinese government has funded such a project.

The galleries will be located near Qingcheng Mountain, one of the two world heritage sites in the popular tourist spot of Dujiangyan City, and are scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.

Eight leading Chinese artists will each run one gallery, named after the resident artist and covering a floor space of 1,000 square meters, and the artworks will include modern oil paintings, installations and sculptures.

The local government will provide investment and more than 70,000 square meters of land for the project.

“In addition to the galleries, one central art museum and an art study center will also be built to hold seminars,” said the project planner Lu Peng, a professor at the China Academy of Art.

Japanese architects have designed the art galleries as a series of gray cubic buildings with concise contours, which Lu says, will be “well integrated into the natural environment.” A global bidding process will begin in late October to finalize the construction design.

Yue Mingjun, one of the artists participating in the program, said he welcomed the government’s support. “As far as I know, there are hardly any restrictions on the art itself and this is a good chance to establish a national modern art research base, which we have been eager to do for years,” he said.

Dujiangyan City is a tourism city named after Dujiangyan irrigation system, one of the two world cultural heritage sites in the city. The ancient irrigation system, built in the third century BC, is still in use today. Tourism is the main source of local revenue.

(Xinhua)