The Marciano Brothers Are Closing Their Huge Private Museum in Los Angeles Indefinitely as Staff Fight to Unionize

Los Angeles’s newest and most troubled private museum, the
Marciano Art Foundation, will remain closed indefinitely after its
sudden shuttering earlier this week. The surprise announcement
comes after layoffs and as its founders fight front-of-house staff
who are seeking union status.

The Los Angeles Times first reported on Wednesday that
the huge gallery in a former Masonic hall and theater on Wilshire
Boulevard has “no present plans to reopen.” The move comes less
than two years after the collectors and fashion tycoons Maurice and
Paul Marciano opened their private
museum. Around 600 VIPs, including a host of leading artists
and curators, attended its gala launch in May 2017.

The foundation previously told the press that it was closing due
to “low attendance.” This has been challenged by critics who point
out that entrance to the art museum is free. The vague wording of
“no present plans” leaves open the possibility that the founders’
move may be a tactical one.

The Marciano Art Foundation is one of the most impressive new
private museums to open in the US. It includes permanent
installations by in-demand artists, such as Nicolas Party and Yayoi
Kusama. In addition to presenting works from the brothers’
collection by the likes of Ugo Rondinone and Doug Aitken, the
museum has also mounted well-reviewed solo exhibitions including
the first major LA show of artist Jim Shaw as well as an epic Ai
Weiwei exhibition. The Chinese artist filled the former Scottish
Rite Masonic Temple’s theater with piles of broken ceramics,
sunflower seeds, and a menagerie of beasts made with traditional
Chinese kite-making materials.

News of the indefinite closure comes as all eyes were on the
institution. On Tuesday, at least 60 staffers were laid off,
according to reports, just four days after 70 employees announced a
campaign to unionize. The part-time workers, who were from visitor
services—including gallery attendants and museum docents—were
seeking a wage increase among other demands related to job security
and scheduling. They were fighting to establish the Marciano Art
Foundation Union with the American Federation of State, County, and
Municipal Employees.

“United by this belief in the dignity of our work, we’re coming
together in one voice,” the union wrote in a letter to management.
The union has called the layoffs and sudden shuttering an
“obstruction of worker’s rights” on social media. The National
Labor Relations Board, which oversees workers’ rights in
America, is set to investigate the Marciano Arts Foundation,
according The Hollywood
Reporter.

The Marciano Art Foundation insists the layoffs and subsequent
decision to close is due strictly to low attendance. The sudden
closure means an exhibitions by Berlin-based artists Donna
Huanca and Anna Uddenberg ended a month earlier than planned.

It is not the first time the Marciano brothers have been
embroiled in a labor dispute. In 1997, their fashion brand Guess
Jeans had to restore the positions of 20 employees who claimed to
have been fired for trying to organize a union.

The post The Marciano Brothers Are Closing Their Huge
Private Museum in Los Angeles Indefinitely as Staff Fight to
Unionize appeared first on artnet News.