Press Releases / Statements

Los Angeles
December 19, 2008

MOCA Mobilization commends the Board of Trustees for working towards maintaining an intact and autonomous MOCA.

However, it is our strong opinion that the Board of Trustees should opt for the 30-day period of public review suggested by Mayor Villaraigosa in his December 16th letter.

In his letter the Mayor stated that he intends to convene a panel of experts with public oversight. We support the Mayor's position requesting participation of the Board of Trustees in a public review process. It is vital that the public remain  informed and vigilant during the difficult process of restructuring. Quoting the Mayor, "after notice of potential breach, I believe that the current crisis demands the convening of a panel now. This convening would bolster the public's confidence in MOCA after this crisis is resolved. Therefore, I intend to move forward shortly to convene such a panel, and I request your participation."

An independent advisory panel is necessary to shepherd MOCA through this challenging period and to insure that the integrity of MOCA's unique curatorial voice and its status as a world class museum be preserved.

Los Angeles
December 17, 2008

MOCA Mobilization, a group of 3,300 members, delivered a petition to MOCA’s Board of Trustees yesterday. The petition, signed by 3,200 people, advocates a simple position: “We call upon the Trustees to maintain MOCA's independence and to keep its collection intact and accessible to a wide and appreciative public”. The petition supplements the signatures of over 400 people who attended MOCA Mobilization’s rally in support of the museum held at the Geffen Contemporary on November 23rd 2008.

In light of yesterday’s announcement by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art “outlining the terms of a proposed merger”, MOCA Mobilization makes the following statement:

We support an independent and autonomous MOCA. We condemn any plan now or in the future to merge MOCA with any other institution. MOCA’s artistic integrity and vitality, acknowledged locally and globally, can only be served by its existence as an independent museum, and not as a department or program at LACMA, whose mission as an encyclopedic museum must appropriately frame its numerous programs.

LACMA’s press release of December 16th states: “The goal of this plan would be to preserve the independence and integrity of both institutions while combining their operations and infrastructure.” This is not a definition of “independence” that we accept.

We at MOCA Mobilization want the reality of independence - not the appearance of it. We demand that the MOCA Board of Trustees honor MOCA’s local and international leadership in contemporary art by maintaining the museum’s autonomy.

Los Angeles
November 23, 2008

STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, LOS ANGELES

Organized by MOCA Mobilization, an independent community group formed to support the Museum and its staff.

On November 19th 2008, the public was informed via an article in the Los Angeles Times that the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles has for some time been in a grave financial crisis and extreme measures were about to be taken with regard to the institution and its collection. With the museum in even greater trouble as rumors and partial truths fly, we, the undersigned, make the following public statement:

MOCA has an incomparable reputation. Widely regarded as the single best contemporary art museum in the world, its exhibitions have become art history. Since 1979, MOCA’s reputation has attracted the admiration of internationally renowned artists and patrons of the arts. It is one of Los Angeles’s great cultural institutions.

We support MOCA’s staff as they suffer through this crisis. It is their work, their talent and their integrity that give the luster to this Museum. We acknowledge with pride the exceptional quality and quantity of ground-breaking exhibitions produced by MOCA. We appreciate the excellence of its permanent collection. For any one of these things to be diminished is to diminish the entire institution.

We are a vigilant public who care for the integrity and autonomy of MOCA. The Board of Trustees is the guardian of this great institution. It is the Board’s responsibility to insure the Museum’s financial health and preserve its programming and staff. We call upon the Trustees to maintain MOCA’s independence and to keep its collection intact and accessible to a wide and appreciative public.