MOCA Hires Dia Foundation's Phillipe Vergne

WNYC News | Jan 16, 2014

Another New York art leader is moving west. Four years after hiring New York art dealer Jeffrey Deitch, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles will replace him with Dia Art Foundation's Philippe Vergne.

Vergne has been at Dia Foundation in Beacon, New York, since 2008. Last year, he drew criticism for putting several pieces from Dia's collection up for auction to raise money for acquisitions.

In this interview, WNYC's art critic Deborah Solomon explains why his nomination is a total surprise.

"He's a French-born intellectual, and at a time when many museums seem interested in having directors who are fundraisers, with MBAs, this is a guy who could talk to you about Derrida and Baudrillard and critical theory," Solomon said. "So the fact that he's moving to L.A. suggests that L.A. is suddenly interested in having...a serious museum person at the helm of MoCa, as opposed to just another business guy."

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