LACMA Implodes, Literally
The HHP building, opened in 1986 as the Robert O. Anderson Building, has always been the most unloved structure on the LACMA campus. For Robert Hughes, writing in Time, the HHP building "obliterated the old museum like the foot in Monty Python… The architects have so overdone their contextual homage to Hollywood Deco-Babylon that the effect verges on camp."
L.A. Times critic William Wilson fretted "that this iron-pumping hulk of a building may appear a trifle too mid-'80s, too 'Miami Vice.'"
Renzo Piano later wrote Eli Broad that adding a new building to LACMA was like playing "a good piece by a string quartet in the middle of three badly played rock concerts." (Hardy, Holzman, and Pfeiffer broke up in 2004, each pursuing a solo career.)
The last word is Peter Zumthor's, whose yet-unbuilt building now seems, in the haze of pandemic memory, to have been an object of general derision for about as long as HHP's: "I'm sorry to say, but today [2009] what they have here are strange buildings that clog up any public spaces. It's a little bit of a mess now on this site, so we're trying to think, how could we get rid of this?"
Comments
"[I]t’s very frustrating to play a good piece by a string quartet in the middle of three badly played rock concerts.”
Not that Piano did much better by his standards (i.e., the string quartet). But at least he set the stage for Zumthor. (Piano was on the jury that awarded Zumthor the Pritzker Prize.)
Here is an article that discusses Piano, Zumthor, and Gehry:
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2010/08/architecture-survey-201008
In this case they're paving over perfectly functional buildings (maybe not wonderful ones, but at least functional ones) and putting up a debacle.
LACMA's Pereira buildings weren't architectural jewels, but they didn't add a lot of new "carbon footprint" to today's planet. They also didn't bust the budget. Furthermore, they didn't go against a large percentage of public opinion.
Moreover, they also had more square footage, adjoining areas for curators, technical facilities and an auditorium with more seating.
There's a waiting room in purgatory for Michael Govan. Then an entrance to hell.
They didn't look good, they didn't sustain well, they were bigger.
Worst gallery space far and away for any museum I ever visited was the area on the American floor, by the back stairwell to the roof. I can’t even describe that weird space with mostly decorative art. It was like a triangular oversized stairwell with glass tiles to let in some diffused light. It was like an after school detention space for works of art. The Latin American art was the best hanging that building ever had, but it was so inaccessible; you could literally see the roof of the courtyard from there, looking down. Yes, the courtyard to always sunny Southern California had a roof.
There was also that weird tiny closet space at the end of the humongous gallery on the fourth floor that once showed modern art. It had a large square window to the tarpits, which having a giant hole in one of the three walls that let in direct light, only allowed for the showing of educational videos. Most museums show educational videos at the beginning of the exhibit; this was at the very end, at a dead end, as far away from the entrance as possible.
The only more inaccessible space than the Latin American fourth floor was the middle eastern, southeast Asian, and south Asian collection atop the ahmanson. Those three collections are top rate, but completely neglected, and showned in worse possible space, worse possible light, completely beneath their stature. Noting could prepare you for that first impression upon arriving via elevator to the fourth floor of the ahmanson and thinking that by going up you had actually descended down. Overcrowded with art, dingy, dark. A maze, a mix of ikea and Halloween horror house, claustrophobic. Most visitors would sprint through the middle galleries hoping that the way forward was shorter than the way back. I can only compare the state of those spaces to the national museum of Cambodia, but at least that building in phnom penh still looks grand, elevates the work though does not protect them properly, and that space can be salvaged. The building treated those objects as third rate. At LACMA, the darker the skin of the makers, the worse the space was. It’s weird that something so obvious is never discussed. A visitor from the future would be appalled at the racism of the spaces for non western art, that is a significant reason for the explosion, but let’s not talk about it. The architecture of LACMA was higherchical, segregationist. Separate and unequal. The only exception was the new South Pacific collection, but that was a fairly recent collection installed after Renzo gutted thatspace and made the basement accessible. And of course, that demolished LACMA had no gallery for African art. Makers too dark?
I look forward to seeing these treasures on equal footing in the Geffen galleries. Imagine that, Monet = Shiva, Matisse = Matta. Can’t wait.
> of the spaces for non western art
> The architecture of LACMA was higherchical, segregationist.
> eparate and unequal.
> And of course, that demolished LACMA had no gallery for
> African art. Makers too dark?
> I look forward to seeing these treasures on equal
> footing in the Geffen galleries. Imagine that,
> Monet = Shiva, Matisse = Matta. Can’t wait.
At least some of your comments about LACMA's shortcomings are technically specific and accurate. But you layer over them so much "no justice, no peace" politicking, that I suspect your sense of social justice is about as sincere and meaningful as your casual disregard for the huge price tag of the museum's anti-low-carbon-footprint redevelopment project.
Not to mention your "What? Me Worry?" impression of the museum's busted budget in general, the non-democratic way the elite of LA culture/government are dealing with this debacle, and the smug, arrogant, self-entitled nature of people like LACMA's board of trustees and its director in particular.
I imagine most of them, if not all of them, share your cultural, political philosophy. So things like "makers too dark?" and "separate and unequal" are due to what? Your own hypocrisy? Your own double standards? Your own effete "I care, I feel, you don't, I'm tolerant, you're not" self-righteousness?
> The Latin American art was the best hanging that building ever had
If you're referring to Jorge Pardo's installation, with the hokey draperies strung around the top, I question your judgment in more ways than one. But Pardo admittedly did draw the line at installing canvases of Elvis in velvet. Perhaps such a feature, however, would have impressed you? After all, everything is equal, everything is good.
August 10, 2020
Editors
The following work will be conducted this week:
Structural demolition of the Art of Americas Building will be completed.
The sidewalk on the north side of Wilshire between Urban Light and Curson Avenue will reopen.
Structural demolition of the Hammer Building continues.
Hazmat abatement in the Ahmanson Building will be completed.
Selective demolition of the Ahmanson Building continues.
Soldier beam installation for the shoring system on the Spaulding Lot will be completed.
Excavation at the Spaulding Lot will commence.
Relocation of utilities west of the Resnick Pavilion will be completed.
https://unframed.lacma.org/2020/08/10/building-project-august-10-update
August 15, 2020
Editors
The following work will be conducted next week:
The sidewalk on the north side of Wilshire between Urban Light and Curson Avenue has reopened.
Demolition of the foundations of the Art of Americas and Hammer Buildings continues.
Abatement in the Ahmanson Building has been completed.
Structural demolition of the Ahmanson Building will begin.
Relocation of utilities west of the Resnick Pavilion has been completed.
Soldier beam installation for the shoring system on the Spaulding Lot has been completed.
Excavation at the Spaulding Lot will begin.
https://unframed.lacma.org/2020/08/15/building-project-august-15-update