Roundup: A renowned filmmaker passes, the art world’s ‘Brexit’ cluelessness, George Lucas eyes San Francisco

An influential Iranian filmmaker has died. How the art world gets “Brexit” all wrong. And helpful advice for George Lucas on how he might actually get his museum of narrative art built. Plus, President Obama’s library architects, the Orange County Museum of Art moves forward with move plans and a series of urban hikes that take you past a San Fernando Valley neighborhood’s splashy new murals. Here’s the Roundup:

— Abbas Kiarostami, the Palme d’Or-winning Iranian director known for meditative pictures focused on the quests of everyday people and a figure whose entrée into the arts began as a student of painting at the University of Tehran, has died at the age of 76.

An EU balloon is attached to the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square in London as protesters took part in a March for Europe on Saturday.

(Niklas Hallen / AFP Photo )

— Ben Davis has a pretty terrific essay on the art world’s lack of self-awareness in the wake of Brexit. “’The future,’” he writes, “can appear as an optimistic beacon only if you stand on its jet-setting winning side.” (And in case you need a primer: John Oliver explains Brexit, complete with dirty song performed by an angelic-looking boy.)

— Obama has picked Billie Tsien Tod William Architects to design his presidential library. Critics Christopher Hawthorne of The Times and Kriston Capps of Citylab say the selection is right in keeping with Obama’s style.

— Speaking of architectural projects in Chicago, critic Blair Kamin writes that it was George Lucas’ own hubris that cost him his museum project in Chicago. The film director is now looking at a San Francisco site, where Chronicle critic John King offers him some friendly advice for getting the deal sealed: “The museum proposals had an air of preordained inevitability, as though we should be grateful for such blessings from above. Guess what. People don’t like to be told what’s good for them, especially in a city where change barrels toward us from all directions.”

— Is movement finally afoot for the Orange County Museum of Art to relocate to a Thom Mayne-designed building in Costa Mesa? The museum’s brass tells the O.C. Register that momentum is picking up. But the museum has yet to sell its property or launch a capital campaign.

— A Facebook exchange that is totally worth reading: New York cultural affairs commissioner Tom Finkelpearl and Creative Time curator Nato Thompson have a wide-ranging discussion about art and politics and ambiguity. More of this please! (@TylerGreenDC)

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour >>

An aerial view of the installation “The Floating Piers” by Christo on Lake Iseo, northern Italy last month.

(Filippo Venezia / Ansa via AP )

— Christo has said that his “Floating Piers” installation at Lake Iseo in Italy was purely an aesthetic intervention. But the project, writes Mike Watson, received logistical support from the Beretta arms manufacturing family — raising questions about whether an installation of this nature can truly be free of politics. Want to see it for yourself? An Italian website has gathered a collection of 360-degree videos of the install.

— Architectural critic Mark Lamster tells the story of a concrete-heavy Dallas tower designed by Paul Rudolph. Once a corporate HQ, it is now affordable housing for the elderly — an interesting look at how difficult architecture can be adapted for new uses rather than being destroyed.

— Critic Hilton Als on the “lawless bohemianism” of Nan Goldin’s “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” — the photography project that famously captured love, life and heartbreak amid the artsy downtown Manhattan scene of the ‘80s.

— A profile of abstract artist Carmen Herrera, who at the age of 101 is finally getting her due.

— Shawn Taylor asks a very good question: Why haven’t any of Octavia Butler’s books been turned into a movie? I vote for a film version of “Kindred” directed by Ava DuVernay.

— W.E.B. DuBois’ Modernist data visualizations of black life. A wondrous intersection of history, data and design.

— It’s all about the ego: Comparing ‘80s era Donald Trump to ‘80s era Julian Schnabel.

— Supply kits for the apocalypse, artist edition.

— From the Department of Very Meta Exhibitions: The Hollywood Bowl Museum has an exhibition of posters asking pilots not to fly over the Hollywood Bowl.

— Los Angeles magazine has posted a series of walks that can be done around the city — including a four-mile trek that features the murals of Pacoima. I can get behind any walking tour that includes a mural of Danny Trejo.

— In Boyle Heights, a historic Victorian house is moved … to a new location across the street.

— Illustrator Kevin Kidney has uploaded scans of a 1960 Disneyland gift catalogue to his blog — featuring everything from Matterhorn playing cards to cowgirl suits.

— Why business majors need a liberal arts education.

— And last but not least: How to tell if you are in a Dostoevsky novel.

Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.

MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Renowned Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami dies at 76

Noel Neill dies at 95; first actress to play Lois Lane

Jesse Williams and the academy just changed Hollywood’s race conversation. What’s next?