Art & Exhibitions
Helen Molesworth Hired as Chief Curator of LA MOCA
Sarah Cascone
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After nearly two years without one, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) will finally have a new chief curator, thanks to the appointment of Helen Molesworth of the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, which will take effect September 1.
With the ICA Boston since 2010, Molesworth was previously the head of modern and contemporary art at the Harvard Art Museums. She fills the vacancy left by Paul Schimmel, who was controversially fired (or resigned of his own accord, depending on who you ask) after 22 years with the museum in June of 2012.
Hiring Molesworth is a further sign that Philippe Vergne, who became director in March, is setting the ship to right after the tumultuous Jeffrey Deitch era. As artnet News previously reported, several board of trustee members who stepped down under Deitch returned to the fold this spring, among them artists John Baldessari, Barbara Kruger, and Catherine Opie.
Molesworth, a scholar, curator, and art writer seems eager for a change of scenery, telling the Los Angeles Times that “LA is one of those places that people have a lot of fantasies about from afar. I’d like to immerse myself in the community of artists and art lovers and see what makes sense for MOCA now.”
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