Report: MOCA goes to NYC for a director, again

LA Observed file photo

The Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles is poised to name as its new director Philippe Vergne, director of the Dia Art Foundation in New York. That is according to unnamed sources in a New York Times story co-bylined an hour ago by Jori Finkel. She was the Los Angeles Times arts and museums writer until laid off last year. That of course makes me look and see what time the LAT had the story: oops, scooped on its own home turf (if the story proves true.) From the NYT:

After a six-month search that fueled intense speculation, the Museum of Contemporary Art here is expected to announce that Philippe Vergne, director of the Dia Art Foundation in New York, has been chosen as its new director, according to people with knowledge of the decision who were not authorized to speak publicly.

It is the second time in a row that the museum has looked to New York for a new leader. Mr. Vergne will replace Jeffrey Deitch, the former New York art dealer who generated fierce controversy as the museum’s director from 2010 until last summer.

Mr. Vergne, 47, who was born in Troyes, France, is a veteran curator with experience both in Europe and in the United States and an extensive background in museum administration. He was director of the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Marseille from 1994 to 1997, and then a senior curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

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The naming of a new director coincides with a changing of the guard among the museum’s trustees. Maria Bell, the co-chairwoman of the board, and David Johnson, the co-chairman, stepped down on Tuesday, with Lilly Tartikoff Karatz and Maurice Marciano taking their places.

The director search committee, led by Ms. Bell and Mr. Johnson, among others, included four prominent California artists who were former board members: John Baldessari, Catherine Opie, Barbara Kruger and Ed Ruscha.