For years, the MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) Gala has been a highlight of the L.A. social calendar. Bringing together visual artists, actors, musicians and more (for instance this year’s event brought out Shepherd Fairey, Keanu Reeves), the annual event is a perfect example of how different arts inspire each other.
This year’s gala, under the creative direction of sculptor Max Hooper Schneider and featuring a stunning performance by St. Vincent, was a brilliant night. It showcased sublimely the vision of MOCA Executive Director Johanna Burton, who says her goal is to give a vehicle for artists to express themselves. While some say things like that, Schneider confirms that is indeed the case.
“At this point Johanna is a dear comrade. She has been very supportive and throughout the entire process has tried to make sure it’s nutritious and nourishing for my practice. That’s exactly what it is,” Schneider tells me.
Given the freedom to articulate his vision, Schneider created a futuristic world that was dystopian and utopian, in Burton’s words, as well as mesmerizing, unforgettable and compelling.
“My sculptures are events. I see them as non-static in certain situations. I’ve always said that I see them as incentive conditions with no clock. But there will be certain visual lures or things that titillate your body that bring you into this thing,” he says. “Then you start completing the story, which activates thinking. So, for the gala you’re basically going to see different iterations and mutations of expressions that I practice. These are environmental anomalies that, if I’m successful, will enrapture people and take them to a place they didn’t anticipate going.”
That included a visually stunning stage Schneider created for St. Vincent’s performance. To Burton, that collaboration between music and art is something she hopes to continue at MOCA. I spoke with her about the melding of the two worlds, and why that combo can be important for museums and supporting artists.
Steve Baltin: How long have you been at MOCA?
Johanna Burton: I have been here almost two and a half years. My third gala, my first was less than six months after I arrived. I jumped right into it and it was nice. I was lucky because it was a time when we were coming out of COVID and people were really anxious to get back together. A little trepidatious, but it was that swell when people were really excited, especially when things were outside, which a lot of this was. So that was actually a really nice way to enter my time here at the museum.
Baltin: You learn more with each experience. So, what were you looking for in putting this one together?
Burton: I’m really proud of the others that we’ve done, but what was so great about this one is we’re, as you probably know, looking towards our fiftieth anniversary, believe it or not. And I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about not the history of the museum in a nostalgic way, but what we do and what we continue to do differently. We’ve always really prioritized letting artists lead and something about this gala that’s really special is MOCA, in the past, has handed the reigns over to artists to do creative direction. But it’s been a little while since that’s happened in a super, in-depth way. I wanted to go back to that model, but also think about what that looks like for a moment like today, coming out of COVID, coming out of all kinds of social change. So going to Max Hooper Shneider and St. Vincent felt like this really natural return to MOCA tradition, but in a fresh way. Max is the perfect mix of dystopian and utopian, of thinking about the end of days and radical futures. He’s an artis that the museum has supported, he’s a super L.A. artist, although he’s got an international career and he’d somebody that’s become a friend and is a huge cheerleader for the museum. I’ve gotten to know him since I’ve been here. I just felt intuitively because of his love of the museum, which pre-dates my being here, and the museum’s support of him through various endeavors he was a great person to talk to. When I invited him to do the creative direction, he immediately got it. He was like, “I’m not decorating this event’s décor. It’s really an experience and an installation of artwork.” It started out with this idea of near destruction, like a meteor crashes into the earth right in front of the Geffen and almost knocks it down. Then it fills up and becomes this bioluminescent wishing well for the space. It’s dystopian, utopian, it’s pretty sci-fi and it’s really lush and full of pleasure. I think about St. Vincent in that way too. I’m really excited about this new album, and I can’t believe Annie is willing to come and do this right as she’s launching the album. When we told Max we were thinking about her, he was over the moon.
Baltin: One of the exciting things in music now is how wide open everything is. Do you feel it is the same in the art space and if so, how is that influencing MOCA?
Burton: I’m glad you’re bringing up the cross-pollination. MOCA, as you know, has always been super interdisciplinary, that’s something I want to bring back even more. I would love it if music artists thought about the platform and I’m hoping that’s why St. Vincent would play for us, having a different kind of audience experience. It could be the grass is always greener. Sometimes I look at the space you inhabit more with musicians and it feels a little freer at times. But, I actually think if you delve into the art world beyond the most obvious platforms of galleries and stuff, people are doing incredibly adventurous work and they do it in places you wouldn’t expect. I find that we can offer, just even the Geffen space because it’s so unique, it’s a place we can bring together artists who really are in dialogue but aren’t often together. Even though Max and Annie aren’t doing this as a collaboration, it will be one. She’ll be performing on a stage he produced. I think that will be super interesting, and one of my aims in this space, not just at the gala, but of the institution at large is to allow for those kinds of interactions to happen. I think producing a space where people start to make it happen is really exciting to me. When the Geffen first opened there was dance, we had architecture and design and fashion shows. I want to get back to some of that hybridity. It’s where we’re going because it’s how artists think. It’s something that we have to catch up with at museums. Museums have been doing it, but they don’t do it enough.
Baltin: How do you see St. Vincent playing into that model?
Burton: She is someone I have admired a long time and I know she has worked with visual artists like Alex Da Corte, who I think did a video for her new album (“Broken Man”), and is a friend and an amazing artist. So, I think if it’s something we’re able to tap into more and often it will also enlarge our audiences, which is something I’m super excited about as well.
Baltin: Who is the dream musician to work with? That one that has that hybrid of music and visuals you feel could do something special?
Burton: MOCA has a history of having worked with artists just as they were hitting a certain stride. For example, Lady Gaga played at one of our galas just as she was becoming Gaga. I just saw John Legend play last night, he played at one of our galas. But I think what we’re talking about is not just great talent, but a tipping point into the aesthetic and a conversation between the fine arts and music. There are many artists I can think of, but I’d be curious what they would want to do. What I like to provide as a museum director, and when I was a curator too, is the artist an opportunity to do something they couldn’t do anywhere else. What I like is to provide something where people start to think, “I could only do that at MOCA. So I need to do it at MOCA.” That’s interesting to me.