Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales is to receive $244m (AUD) from the state government of New South Wales, allowing it to move ahead with its major expansion project, Sydney Modern, it was announced this week.
The new building, designed by Japanese firm SANAA, will double the gallery’s size, creating what the museum says will be a ‘global art museum… with new and expanded spaces for art, live performance and film’.
Plans for the new building were first announced in 2013 but have been troubled with “budget shortfalls, competing visions and acrimonious infighting”, according to a New York Times article.
In addition to the public funding, the gallery needs to raise another $100m of private funding, of which it says $70 has already been pledged.
Construction is planned to begin in 2019 for completion in 2021, which will coincide with the 150th anniversary of the gallery.
14 June 2017
