LACMA has released
new renderings of its Peter Zumthor project, now the David Geffen Galleries. They have renewed speculation about how the museum will hang pictures on Zumthor's concrete walls.
I asked LACMA's Miranda Carroll about the mystery. She pointed me to Zumthor's other museums with concrete walls. Paintings and photographs are hung on hardware bolted deep into the concrete (meaning that artist/Twitterer Julian Hoeber was right). After display, the bolts are removed and the concrete is patched. As with plaster, a concrete patch quickly bonds to the surrounding wall. There's no repainting.
Here's a wall of Cindy Shermans at Zumthor's Kunsthaus Bregenz (Austria). This is a contemporary space that changes shows several times a year. Carroll says that the walls "look perfect after a decade of many exhibitions."
Zumthor's Kolumba Museum in Cologne, Germany, juxtaposes medieval sculpture with contemplative moderns. Here's an Agnes Martin on concrete.
Comments
How about all the glare from sunlight pouring in?
Oh, and the proposed replacement building will have less floor space than the current buildings.
Concrete is also generally a hard, cold, cheap-looking material. The deconstructionist style may appeal to some designers and architects. But it mainly looks like the budget got squeezed and money ran out.
Michael Govan has done some good things for LACMA. But I have a suspicion his plans to knock down and rebuild won't be one of them.
Would have been better if David Geffen gave his money to another institution in Los Angeles. MOCA sure could use an expansion and the Music Center is getting long in the tooth.