LACMA Scraps Plans for South L.A. Satellite
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| Wetlands Park, South Los Angeles |
LACMA has formally terminated a 2017 agreement to operate a satellite campus at South Los Angeles' Wetlands Park, reports Urbanize Los Angeles. According to a Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners memo, "geotechnical and structural engineering studies… have shown that the cost to repair and retrofit Building 71 will far exceed what LACMA had initially estimated." In 2018 Michael Govan said the project could cost "$25 million plus." He envisioned as many as five LACMA satellites spread across the county.
That hasn't happened, but the museum has been supplying small shows of LACMA art to such area institutions as the Charles White Elementary School, the Vincent Price Art Museum, and the Lancaster Museum of Art.
More recently the conversation (and controversy) has turned to Govan's agreement to lend LACMA art and programming to the planned Las Vegas Museum of Art.
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As we reported in 2020 (https://esotouric.com/lacma-satellite), the museum has long been in violation of its sweetheart City lease, failing to provide any required community programming. Previously, senior LACMA administrators, including Michael Govan, told us they had decided to abandon plans for the site due to cost.
What a squandered opportunity!
Who needs LACMA? Building 71 belongs to Angelenos, and it should be activated for the public good, with creative and community spaces, a senior center with air conditioning, pop up retail and food options, classes, a history display interpreting the building's artifacts, ecological programming inspired by the wetlands setting, etc.
Example: More of the footprint of the Zumthor building should have been north of Wilshire, not south of it. The area around the entry court (which is reminiscent of canopies of LA public schools built over 60 years ago) and the Broad and Resnick buildings should have been filled up by more of the mass of the new building.
When LACMA already has enough on its hands dealing with one location, the thinking by Govan that it should also have satellite locations is technically, conceptually and financially irresponsible.