L.A.'s New Museum on the Block
Over the past couple of decades, the American art scene has been shifting from New York to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Los Angeles has been amassing an impressive collection of museums, turning the once-ramshackle downtown into a global destination. Last week, The Broad Museum opened its striking, $140 million building across the street from Frank Gehry’s Disney Hall.
See a few photos of The Broad Museum below.
For the past few months, the staff has been moving Eli and Edythe Broad’s vast collection of contemporary art into the new building — installing works by more than 100 artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman and Robert Rauschenberg.
“This building is something like a 36,000-ton newborn.” — Joanne Heyler, Broad Museum founding director
“Unlike work that you would hang in your house, we tend not to use picture wire,” says Julia Latane, the museum’s head preparator. “We also have different types of security hardware so that the work can’t fall in an earthquake or be lifted off the wall.”
Joanne Heyler, the Broad's founding director, has been looking at a scale model of the space for years. But now, for the first time, she and her team are seeing the art actually hanging on the museum’s walls. “One of the great things about this installation is seeing all these very familiar artworks under this amazing, glowing natural light,” Heyler says. “We have a whole future ahead of us as a museum.”
This story was produced with help from KPCC’s The Frame. You can listen to a longer version here.
