If drama is your thing, you should follow the history of museums and patronage in Los Angeles. The controversies include censorship, the 1975 financial collapse of the Pasadena Art Museum, and the present ongoing turmoil with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles. Earlier this year, MOCA saw seven board members and long-time chief curator Paul Schimmel depart, allegedly over the influence of Eli Broad, who pledged $30 million to save the museum in 2008. To watch the train wreck itself, head over to online magazine 'East of Borneo,' which has put together the microsite Museums in Crisis. The site includes essays, historical documents, breaking news on the MOCA, interviews, and op-eds, including a description of the problems at Pasadena (now the Norton Simon Museum) written by former senior curator, John Coplans. Though Coplan is writing about the financial meltdown at the Norton Museum, it seems fitting for what’s happening at MOCA today: "It poses acute questions about the power and accountability of museum trustees, the lack in many American art museums of carefully thought-out policies within their local communities, and the general role a museum should assume within the community of art museums throughout the country." East of Borneo, part of the California Institute of Arts, also has a division called East of Borneo Books, which recently published its first book, Piecing Together Los Angeles: An Esther McCoy Reader. • eastofborneo.org
