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Marciano Art Foundation building to become Gagosian Gallery outpost

2020-08-03T14:04:00-04:00

Following the abrupt closure of the Marciano Art Foundation complex in Los Angeles last year, international art house Gagosian Gallery has inked a plan to take over 13,000 square feet of the former museum building.

Situated within a gargantuan former Scottish Rite Temple designed by architect Millard Sheets in 1961, the Gagosian outpost will become the largest facility operated by the gallery in Los Angeles, ArtNews reports. In 2015 the temple was converted for the Marciano Art Foundation by wHY; It is unclear if the firm is undertaking any additional design efforts for the latest gallery conversion. In 2016, wHY designed a 4,500-square-foot flagship Gagosian Gallery facility in San Francisco.

According to the report, Gagosian will take up the temple's Theater Gallery space, a ground level area that was once used to stage elaborate performances and plays by the Scottish Rite group during its original use.

The Marciano Art Foundation shut down in November 2019 following an unsucces...

LA's Marciano Foundation museum closes amid staff unionization push

2019-11-10T18:00:00-05:00

On Tuesday night, the Marciano Art Foundation laid off nearly six dozen visitor services employees who had been attempting to unionize. The museum then issued a public statement saying that the space would be “closed to the public until further notice.” By Wednesday, the museum had issued yet another statement: There are “no present plans to reopen.” Staffers who had announced their intent to unionize decried the shutdown as an illegal union-busting scheme.

The Marciano Art Foundation debuted in 2017 and was designed by wHY within a building originally designed by storied Los Angeles architect Millard Sheets.

Describing the abrupt closure, Carolina Miranda writes in The Los Angeles Times, "The Marciano situation has also highlighted issues of pay equity at museums, which frequently have a coterie of well-remunerated administrators at the top, followed by a much larger subset of poorly paid workers at the bottom, many part time."

Ai Weiwei to launch three new exhibitions in Los Angeles this fall

2018-05-22T16:28:00-04:00

The Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei will have three new exhibitions coming to Los Angeles this fall. In what will be his first substantial showing in the city, Weiwei will be taking over the Marciano Art Foundation, The Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, and the UTA Artist Space on Sept 28th, Sept. 29th and Oct. 4th, respectively.

Known for his work motivated by social justice issues, the activist will inherit the massive ground-floor of the Marciano Art Foundation—currently showing the work of Olafur Eliasson—to display three large-scale installations, one of which is a response to the refugee crisis.

At the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, where Weiwei's work will mark the opening of the new Hollywood space, a reprise of his installation from the Gropius Bau in Berlin will be shown alongside a new series depicting the Chinese zodiac made from LEGOs, according to the New York Times.

In the last of his three shows, Weiwei will do a complete architectural overhaul of a 4,000-square-foot former di...