Cate Blanchett to Open Private Gallery at Her English Country Estate

Cate Blanchett, the Oscar-winning actress and avid contemporary art collector, has received planning approval to build a private gallery on the grounds of Highwell House, her Victorian estate in East Sussex, England. The project, designed by Adam Richards Architects, will replace two existing structures—a cottage and a shed—to create a space for her art collection, which reportedly includes works by Guan Wei, Zhang Huan, Paula Rego, Howard Hodgkin, and Bill Hammond. Beyond exhibitions, the building will serve as a meditation room and rehearsal space, and must accommodate a colony of endangered bats residing on the property. Blanchett purchased Highwell House in 2015 for £3 million. The planning documents were submitted to the Wealden District Council in October 2020 and approved on January 7, 2021. Blanchett previously engaged with the art world as the star of Julian Rosefeldt's 2015 video installation Manifesto, shown at venues including the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Park Avenue Armory, and Milan Film Festival. In September 2020, she participated in The Four Temperaments AR, a virtual reality project by Marco Brambilla, exhibited at Michael Fuchs Gallery in Berlin.