The Los Angeles Times’ Diane Haithman reports that about 450 people crowded into the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art’s Geffen Contemporary space on Sunday afternoon, drawn to a hastily arranged rally of sorts in support of LA MoCA. A number of prominent artists attended, including Paul and Mara McCarthy, Andrea Fraser, Katie Grinnan, Martin Kersels, Alexis Smith, Jennifer Steinkamp, and James Welling. The meeting was spurred by recent reports of dire financial problems that threaten the existence of the downtown museum. Others found out about the event, organized by artists Cindy Bernard and Diane Thater, through the heavily trafficked Facebook page created for their “MoCA Mobilization,” which describes itself as “an independent community group formed to support the museum and its staff.” Speakers included George Baker, UCLA associate professor of art history, who was previously scheduled to speak on Conceptualism in art in California but instead got swept up by the mobilization; Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs chief Olga Garay; and artist Richard Jackson. Former LA MoCA curator Julie Lazar and artist Alexis Smith made impromptu remarks stressing the importance of the museum to the world of contemporary art. Because of the long line still waiting outside the Geffen at the scheduled start time of 3 PM, the speakers did not begin their remarks until about half an hour later to make sure everyone could get inside. A museum spokeswoman said that they collected a little more than four thousand dollars at the door, mostly in admission fees but also including twenty-one new memberships. Philanthropist Eli Broad earlier promised thirty million dollars to the ailing museum. In her report on the forum in the New York Times, Jori Finkel notes that among the possibilities being discussed for the museum’s future is a joint venture or merger with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. “MoCA is one of the most important institutions for postwar art in this country, with a very different program and culture than LACMA,” Andrea Fraser said. “A merger would be horrible.” Kimberli Meyer, the director of MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, agreed: “We can’t let this be our Bear Stearns. If something happened to MoCA, it would change the chemistry of the LA art world.”

In other news, Carol Vogel writes in the New York Times that the auction slump has a silver lining for the Museum of Modern Art, New York. After the recent drop in prices, artworks that were once out of reach for museums have suddenly become affordable again. Vogel reports that MoMA was able to buy a sculpture by the arte povera artist Pino Pascali and a floor piece by the Minimalist sculptor Carl Andre for less than their auction estimates. Pascali’s Bridge, 1968, a braided steel-wool sculpture that had been heavily promoted by Christie’s, failed to sell at the auction house’s Italian sale in London on October 20. Christie’s had estimated that it would bring $2.7 million to $3.7 million. Ann Temkin, MoMA’s chief curator of painting and sculpture, said she had wanted the piece but did not have the green light from the museum’s acquisitions committee to bid for it. So when she heard that it went unsold, she contacted Christie’s and was able to make a deal. (She declined to say what the museum paid for it.) Until the acquisition, MoMA had only one of his pieces, Machine Gun, a 1966 sculpture fashioned from reworked parts of a Fiat 500.

Equivalent V, a 120-piece brick rectangular floor piece by Andre executed from 1966 to 1969, carried an estimate of $1.2 million to $1.6 million at Sotheby’s contemporary auction on November 11 in New York. MoMA was the only bidder and walked away with the piece for $1 million. Temkin said that while the museum was committed to pushing forward and acquiring twenty-first-century works, “we are keenly aware of catching up by bringing classics of contemporary art into the collection while there is still time.”