Mike Boehm of the LA Times has gotten his hands on the 16-page bailout agreement between Eli Broad and LA MOCA. That 2008 document, Boehm reports, "includes a four-page section concerning 'significant actions' that MOCA trustees can't take with a simple vote. One of them is agreeing to be subsumed under another local museum---such as LACMA---before 2019." Here's Boehm's … [Read more...] about LA Times Reveals Provisions Regarding Mergers in the 2008 Eli Broad/MOCA Agreement; USC Still Interested
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Hear Us Now: KCRW Podcast of Knight, Bernard and Me on MOCA’s Suitors
Below is the audio podcast from the just concluded program about MOCA's serious problems and potential solutions, on KCRW's "Which Way, L.A.?", hosted by Warren Olney. The MOCA segment, with LA Times art critic Christopher Knight, MOCA Mobilization co-founder Cindy Bernard and me, starts at about 10:30 into the broadcast. (My own participation begins at about 19:16.) I get … [Read more...] about Hear Us Now: KCRW Podcast of Knight, Bernard and Me on MOCA’s Suitors
Coming Soon on KCRW: My “Which Way, L.A.?” Commentary on MOCA/LACMA/USC/NGA
Want to know what I think about the astonishing news (reported this afternoon by the NY Times' Patricia Cohen) that Eli Broad has approached the National Gallery, Washington, about a possible LACMA-trumping agreement for a five-year collaboration? You can hear me debunk that proposal as "kicking the can down the road" on public radio station KCRW's Which Way, L.A.?, tonight … [Read more...] about Coming Soon on KCRW: My “Which Way, L.A.?” Commentary on MOCA/LACMA/USC/NGA
MOCA Poker: Will Eli Broad Attempt to Stop LACMA’s Proposed Takeover? Can LACMA Afford MOCA?
In his Saturday NY Times article about the possible Los Angeles museum merger, Adam Nagourney noted that "there is one person now in a position to block it: Eli Broad." That's because a condition of MOCA's acceptance of the Broad Bailout (scroll to last page), as Eli stated in 2008, was "to keep MOCA independent. Being merged into another institution would destroy the … [Read more...] about MOCA Poker: Will Eli Broad Attempt to Stop LACMA’s Proposed Takeover? Can LACMA Afford MOCA?
LACMOCA? Winners and Losers as LACMA-MOCA Museum Merger Sparks Are Reignited
I just got back home from cataract surgery (successful, I think), so I'm not permitted to rub my eyes quite yet. But eye-rubbing was nearly unavoidable when I read this Jori Finkel jaw-dropper on the website of the LA Times: The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has made a formal proposal to acquire the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, which has been struggling … [Read more...] about LACMOCA? Winners and Losers as LACMA-MOCA Museum Merger Sparks Are Reignited
NY Times “Styles” Over Substance: Giving LA MOCA’s Jeffrey Deitch More Than His Due
Jeffrey Deitch poolside at his Hollywood houseScreenshot from Jeffrey Deitch Takes Hollywood, a video on The Curve, LA MOCA's blogGuy Trebay's long Jeffrey Deitch-friendly piece, which landed inconguously on the front page of last week's NY Times "SundayStyles" section, hasn't been dignified with a link on the paper's Art and Design web page. That could be for good reason: The … [Read more...] about NY Times “Styles” Over Substance: Giving LA MOCA’s Jeffrey Deitch More Than His Due
MOCA’s “Attack” Press Release: Two New Trustees and a “Support[ive]” Board
Late this morning, this intriguing announcement landed in my inbox from LA MOCA:This seemed eminently newsworthy, especially since director Jeffrey Deitch had promised to the LA Times that he would beef up his battle-scarred board with "two significant new trustees...within days." (That was on Aug. 4.) I was even more interested in learning what the press release would say … [Read more...] about MOCA’s “Attack” Press Release: Two New Trustees and a “Support[ive]” Board
Rorschach Blot: AAMD President’s Implicit Endorsement of MOCA’s Jeffrey Deitch UPDATED
Kimerly Rorschach, incoming director of Seattle Art MuseumI don't know about you, but I've been compulsively checking the LA Times' Culture Monster to see if its ace arts-reporting team has uncovered anything about what happened at LA MOCA's special board meeting on Tuesday. (Okay, so you're probably not compulsively checking that site. That's what you've got CultureGrrl … [Read more...] about Rorschach Blot: AAMD President’s Implicit Endorsement of MOCA’s Jeffrey Deitch UPDATED
LA MOCA’s Financial Morass: Bloomberg’s Kazakina and Palmeri Expose the Shortfalls
LA MOCA's Boardroom It's amazing what a little investigative reporting can do. Kudos to Katya Kazakina and Christopher Palmeri of Bloomberg, who dug out documents and interviewed concerned MOCA trustees to uncover the most disturbing picture yet of the state of the disarray in LA MOCA's finances and governance. This moves the ball way down the field from previous … [Read more...] about LA MOCA’s Financial Morass: Bloomberg’s Kazakina and Palmeri Expose the Shortfalls
NY Times’ Roberta Smith in Denial: Her Improbable Action Plan for LA MOCA’s Deitch UPDATED
Roberta Smith, NY Times' co-chief art critic [UPDATE: Paul Schimmel, MOCA's departed chief curator, obliquely breaking his silence on the MOCA Mess, linked to this CultureGrrl post on Facebook and wrote this comment about what I wrote: "I am afraid this may be right."] Very late in the day, Roberta Smith, the NY Times' rightfully admired co-chief art critic, has finally … [Read more...] about NY Times’ Roberta Smith in Denial: Her Improbable Action Plan for LA MOCA’s Deitch UPDATED
MOCA Mess: Jeffrey Deitch Speaks! (via his museum’s blog); LA Times Editorializes
MOCA"s Geffen Contemporary facilityIn my last post on the MOCA Mess, I decried the "low profile" of Jeffrey Deitch, the museum's embattled and under-performing director, at a tumultuous time when confidence-inspiring leadership was desperately needed.I wrote:As the serious criticism relentlessly piles up from within MOCA's ranks and from outside commentators, MOCA needs to … [Read more...] about MOCA Mess: Jeffrey Deitch Speaks! (via his museum’s blog); LA Times Editorializes
Artist Power! Kruger, Opie Join Baldessari in Protest-Resignations from LA MOCA’s Board UPDATED
[UPDATE: The last remaining artist on MOCA's board, Ed Ruscha, has now also departed.] The LA Times keeps coming up with daily dispatches about the MOCA mess. Having reported on Friday about artist John Baldessari's protest resignation from the museum's board, it followed up yesterday with news of two more artist-trustee departures---Barbara Kruger and Catherine Opie. In … [Read more...] about Artist Power! Kruger, Opie Join Baldessari in Protest-Resignations from LA MOCA’s Board UPDATED
John Baldessari, Defecting MOCA Trustee, on the Tone-Deafness of Jeffrey Deitch
MOCA's Saturday Night FeverIn his LA Times piece today---MOCA's Board Exits Pile Up---on the defections from the ranks of LA MOCA's trustees, the indispensable Mike Boehm quotes artist John Baldessari on his reasons for resigning from the museum's board: "To live with my conscience, I just had to do it," Baldessari said in an interview Thursday after e-mailing his decision to … [Read more...] about John Baldessari, Defecting MOCA Trustee, on the Tone-Deafness of Jeffrey Deitch
Eli Broad Becomes LA MOCA Spokesperson: Seeking “Cost-Effective” Exhibitions
Eli Broad In all my years covering museums, I've never heard the kind of rhetoric applied to museum practices that Eli Broad employs in his Op-Ed piece for tomorrow's LA Times (online today). I've also never seen a "life trustee," who is not even a voting member of the museum's board, become the sole spokesperson for that institution during a time of crisis. Today, the LA … [Read more...] about Eli Broad Becomes LA MOCA Spokesperson: Seeking “Cost-Effective” Exhibitions
Fiscal Fizzle: Jeffrey Deitch’s MOCA Fundraising
Jeffrey Deitch As I mentioned in my KCRW radio commentary, Jeffrey Deitch was hired as director of LA MOCA (effective June 1, 2010) to be a game-changer. It's important to remember, though, that there was nothing wrong with MOCA's curatorial game as it existed under previous director Jeremy Strick. MOCA's exhibition program was already widely esteemed and shows organized by … [Read more...] about Fiscal Fizzle: Jeffrey Deitch’s MOCA Fundraising