Artistic Bridges to Latin America : MOCA unveils a major research and exhibition program

The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA, has unveiled a a major, long-term effort to establish permanent cultural ties with countries in Latin America, and our city will be the better for it. The goal of the Latin American Art Research and Exhibition Program is to integrate Latin American art and architecture into the mainstream U.S. art world. The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago will take part.

MOCA’s trustees should be commended for opening the door to this extraordinary endeavor, which certainly is fitting in light of Los Angeles’ perhaps unique geographic, historical and cultural connections to Mexico and the nations of Central and South America.

What the founders of the project envision is an exchange program that will evolve in three phases. During the first, the three American museums will forge relationships with museums, artists and curators in Latin America. The goal of MOCA director Richard Koshalek and curator Alma Ruiz is to have solid links established with counterparts in Mexico and three or four other Latin countries by February. In the second stage, they will pass along what they have learned and documented to about 50 other museums in the United States. Lastly, each of the three U.S. museums will organize exhibitions of new and evolving Latin art.

This project will help to fill a vacuum in U.S. museums, which have valued little Latin American art except the Mexican masters. Few have permanent collections or have mounted major touring exhibits.

It is encouraging that Koshalek and Ruiz are committed to including U.S. Latino artists in the project. We hope that comprehensive community outreach programs will be created. The only way cultural institutions will remain vibrant, vital and modern is by serving the emerging minority communities.