Department of No News: LA MOCA Appointment Still Stalled

Dewey Beats Truman? The returns aren't in yet.

No word yet on when, if or who, regarding LA MOCA's announcement of its new director, which was to have occurred at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time today. But at least, thanks to Mike Boehm of the LA Times, we now know the subject matter of the mayoral press conference that supposedly conflicted with the planned announcement:

The reason given for the postponement is that MOCA's announcement, which was set on Friday, has come into conflict with an unexpected late-morning news conference hastily called by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Sunday night to announce the appointment of a new deputy mayor who will take charge of the city's desperate finances.

Why this precludes a simultaneous announcement of a new cultural leader beats me. The mayor wasn't even listed among those participating in the LA MOCA roll-out, although two members of the LA Council were. Maybe philanthropist Eli Broad just needs to be everywhere.

It's worth noting that the LA Times seems to be pulling back from its Deitch prediction. Boehm is now saying:

Among the names circulating for  the MOCA job are Jeffrey Deitch, a New York art dealer; Lisa Phillips director of the New Museum in New York, and Lars Nittve, former director of London's Tate Modern, now with the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

Even more interesting is the online AWOL status of Carol Vogel's New Chief to Be Named for Los Angeles Museum (pictured above). It's accompanied by Deitch's photo, supporting the premature presumption that he is, indeed, the anointed one. Her item, which reports the rumors, is the lead piece in the Arts, Briefly column of the hardcopy of today's NY Times. But it's nowhere to be found on the online Arts page or on the ArtsBeat blog where it would ordinarily appear. (I unearthed it online it by doing a search on "Jeffrey Deitch.")

Did they pull it from it's accustomed online spot because it was not news, only conjecture?

As for me, I'm still rooting for the "Dewey Beats Truman" scenario!