Latest news with #MOCA
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
MOCA shakeup: Ann Goldstein named interim director as Johanna Burton departs
The Museum of Contemporary Art has appointed former senior curator Ann Goldstein as its interim director, beginning Aug. 18. The Board of Trustees said Wednesday that it has launched an international search for a new permanent director. The move comes less than a week after the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania announced that MOCA's current director, Johanna Burton, would be its new director, with a start date of Nov. 1. MOCA did not issue its own press release about the leadership shakeup until Wednesday. When news of Burton's departure broke, she said she timed her departure so that she could oversee the opening of MOCA's highly anticipated 'Monuments' exhibit, which is scheduled for Oct. 23. But a source close to MOCA, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak on the record, said Burton's last day is Friday. MOCA declined to comment on the timing of Burton's departure or the discrepancy between when she said she was leaving and the museum's announcement that Goldstein will start in her role Aug. 18, but Burton confirmed her earlier departure to The Times. Burton said she had offered to stay up until the last minute before she was scheduled to begin her new job, but that MOCA's board, 'Probably just realized that it needed to move more quickly towards thinking about the next phase, which makes sense to me.' 'I think everybody just has the best interest of the museum in mind,' Burton said, adding that she is proud of her time with MOCA and leaves with only good feelings about what she and her staff have accomplished over the past four years. 'I'm delighted that they're in a position where that kind of runway can be taken up by somebody who is as wonderful as Ann, and it makes me feel really good handing it off.' Goldstein has a long history with MOCA, having shaped her career at the museum, beginning in 1983, just a few years after the museum was established. Over the next two-and-a-half decades Goldstein rose to senior curator. From 2009 to 2013 she served as director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; and in 2016 she became deputy director of the Art Institute of Chicago. 'No one knows MOCA like Ann. Her deep institutional knowledge and passion for our collection and community coupled with her international directorial expertise makes her the ideal leader to maintain the museum's momentum,' said Carolyn Clark Powers, chair of MOCA's board of trustees. 'While Johanna Burton's departure marks a moment of transition for MOCA, thanks to her leadership the museum is well positioned for the future.' Burton is the fifth director to leave MOCA since 2008. She became the museum's first female director four years ago in what The Times called 'something of an embarrassed addendum' to the news that MOCA's former director and recently named artistic director Klaus Biesenbach had taken a job in Berlin. Two weeks prior, MOCA had announced that Burton would assume the role of executive director to co-run the museum with Biesenbach as part of a management restructuring plan. Suddenly alone in the top role, Burton became the museum's seventh director in MOCA's nearly 40-year history. The museum was emerging from a period of instability after a series public stumbles, including a canceled fundraising gala due to public outcry over a lack of diversity in its honorees, the firing of chief curator Helen Molesworth and what many considered to be an unexpected announcement that former director Philippe Vergne wouldn't renew his five-year contract. Despite the internal turmoil, and a significant drop in membership, as well as a COVID-19-induced closure that lasted more than a year, MOCA's endowment hit a high watermark of $170 million at the time of Burton's initial appointment.
Los Angeles Times
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Frederick M. Nicholas, champion of L.A. arts dubbed ‘Mr. Downtown Culture,' dies at 105
Frederick M. Nicholas, a war hero, attorney and real estate developer who shaped several of Los Angeles' major arts and public service institutions, died peacefully at his home Saturday. He was 105. Nicholas led the design and development of major L.A. landmarks, including the Museum of Contemporary Art and Walt Disney Concert Hall. Surprisingly enough, Nicholas discovered his love of the arts in law school at the University of Chicago. 'When I went downtown, I saw an art gallery for the first time,' he said in a 2022 YouTube interview with Blake Meidel, a young film creator. 'I went inside and I looked at it and I was overwhelmed.' When he returned to L.A., where he had studied journalism at USC, Nicholas took classes in the visual arts and built a law practice that included representation of artists and galleries. He took on several distinguished roles in the arts community, serving as MOCA's chairman and vice chairman for a cumulative 11 years and a life trustee for the remainder of his life. Nicholas was instrumental to the development of the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and Walt Disney Concert Hall. It is little wonder that he was nicknamed 'Mr. Downtown Culture.' In the 1980s, Nicholas led the city out of a cultural stasis and turned it into a global cultural and architectural powerhouse. 'Fred, we literally wouldn't be L.A. without you,' former mayor Eric Garcetti said in a message to Nicholas on his 100th birthday. Renowned architect Frank Gehry told The Times that Nicholas' involvement in MOCA 'was too good to be true.' 'He is an extremely smart man, and he's sensitive. He's been involved in and interested in the arts as a collector,' Gehry said in 1982. 'He understands both the architecture and business of development. He knows all the players involved with the museum, and he has their respect. When I heard he was involved I thought it was too good to be true. I know he can pull it off.' Nicholas negotiated with Giuseppe Panza of Varese, Italy, to acquire the Panza Collection. Including works from Mark Rothko, Franz Kline and others, the art now forms the core of MOCA's permanent collection. As chair of the Walt Disney Hall Concert Committee beginning in 1987, Nicholas headed a committee to find an architect (Gehry was eventually hired for the coveted gig), fundraise and plan the building process. Over 105 years, Nicholas engaged with some of history's greatest artists. 'I met Pablo Picasso and I had dinner with him,' he told Meidel breezily. Nicholas' influence in L.A. extended into the realm of public service as well. After an incredibly successful law career, he shifted to pro bono work. 'I thought that lawyers should do something to help the poor,' Nicholas told Meidel. Nicholas founded Public Counsel in 1970, which provided legal support to vulnerable people, including veterans and unhoused families, in what is now the largest firm of its kind in the U.S. 'Public Counsel really is his greatest legacy,' Nicholas' son, Anthony Nicholas, told The Times on Tuesday. 'They are still helping people today.' Nicholas was born on May 30, 1920 in Brooklyn, N.Y. When he was 14, his family moved to L.A. In 1941, Nicholas served in the Army and was discharged five years later. 'One of the things that made me successful in law was that I was always in a hurry. I was always eager to move because I felt that I had lost so much time in the war. I had to make it up,' Nicholas, one of the oldest and most decorated WWII veterans, said in a retrospective on his life and work at age 100. Nicholas was also adored by his family. Anthony recalled his father's 'beaming smile,' 'great, great energy' and 'the love he spread around the world.' Nicholas is survived by his children, Deborah, Jan and Anthony; Anthony's wife Mona; six grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and sister Helen Devor.
San Francisco Chronicle
29-06-2025
- Health
- San Francisco Chronicle
Is forgetting things ‘normal' aging or something worse? Here's first step to finding out
Millions of Americans live with mild cognitive impairment and dementia, and millions more are projected to be diagnosed in the coming years. If you're having memory or cognitive problems, the first thing you should do is get evaluated by your doctor, medical experts said. They stress that not all memory loss and cognitive decline are degenerative or permanent, so it's important to get tested to try to understand the underlying causes of the symptoms and seek the right treatment if applicable. Testing for cognitive decline Many people go first to their primary care physician or geriatrician, who may then refer them to a neurologist. Two widely used tests are the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MOCA) and the Saint Louis University Mental Status Exam. 'If someone is concerned about their memory and thinking, and feel there's a change from their prior baseline, the first step is to talk to their primary care physician,' said Dr. Irina Skylar-Scott, a Stanford neurologist who specializes in memory disorders. 'They can do a basic evaluation and talk to them to see if there could be an issue.' Testing can include taking a detailed history, asking what function was like before and what's changed, and comparing your results with what's expected in people of the same age and education level. Sometimes doctors do additional testing, such as bloodwork and brain imaging. Bloodwork can show if someone has abnormal thyroid function or abnormal vitamin B12 levels, both of which can cause symptoms that mimic dementia. A brain MRI can show whether certain areas have tissue loss in the memory centers of the brain. Because there are so many potential causes of cognitive problems other than dementia — such as depression, stroke, sleep apnea and other diseases — it's important to rule out other medical conditions that could be contributing to dementia-like symptoms. The 3 types of memory loss There are distinct categories of memory and cognition loss, and neurologists and geriatricians generally put them in three buckets: 'Normal aging' is characterized by some memory loss, often short-term, and subtle loss of cognition, especially with things involving speed or multitasking. It may take a little longer, or require a little more effort, to store or recall information. But the cognitive changes don't affect your ability to function day to day. 'As we get older, we tend to have very subtle, often slight declines in certain cognition,' said Dr. Kristine Yaffe, a professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology at UCSF and a leading researcher of cognitive aging. 'That slows down a little bit but doesn't get in the way of what you can do. If you were to be tested, it'd be a mild change.' Many people experience this, and it's not necessarily a medical problem. 'If you compare people in their 30s and 40s, by the time they're in their 70s and 80s, they're going to have small declines,' Yaffe said. 'That'd be 'normal aging.' They're not quite as fast or facile, but it's not anything major and not getting in the way of their functioning.' If you forgot where you parked your car or where you left your glasses or keys, 'those are kind of normal things,' said Dr. Wynnelena Canio, a geriatrician at Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael. 'The most common cause of memory issues is not paying attention. When we park or leave our glasses on the table, a lot of times our mind is somewhere else because we're in a hurry so we didn't store that information to begin with.' Mild cognitive decline (MCI) is a formal diagnosis for which the criterion is demonstrating impairment on at least one cognitive domain — language, memory, executive function, and visual-spatial skills — during testing. Being impaired means you've scored significantly below the norm for your age and education level in that domain. But you're still functioning, for the most part, on your own — though you may rely more on lists to remember things, for instance. 'Usually people have some sort of subjective sense,' Yaffe said. 'Their loved ones will say, 'Yes, they have declined on this.' Sure enough, they don't do as well on testing, but are still functioning OK. It's not enough where it's really getting in the way. They don't remember some things but are still able to do a lot of what they used to be able to do.' MCI can, but does not always progress to dementia. An estimated 10% to 15% of people living with MCI progress to dementia each year, according to the Alzheimer's Association. People with MCI who have certain genetic traits such as APOE4, a variant that increases the risk of Alzheimer's, may be more likely to progress than not, Yaffe said. Dementia involves many symptoms similar to those of MCI. But the main difference is that 'a person with dementia is impaired in function,' said Canio, of Kaiser. 'They need others to help them pay the bills, get them places, get them to their appointments. Once someone is needing assistance from someone else to do some of those things, it's a warning sign it could be dementia.' How quickly dementia may progress — from mild to moderate or severe — is not clear. But the biggest predictor is what someone's trajectory has been to date, said Skylar-Scott, of Stanford. 'A patient with early onset before age 65 will progress much more quickly than patients with late onset,' she said.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Animoca Brands' Flagship Project Moca Network to Debut L1 for Digital Identity
Moca Network, the identity ecosystem of Web3 investment giant Animoca Brands, is planning to introduce a layer-1 blockchain that will allow Web3 projects to identify and verify users without needing to rely on centralized platforms. Moca Chain will enable user data to be verified by applications across any blockchain, similar to the way single sign-in platforms such as Okta and Google Sign-In operate in the Web2 environment. The testnet is expected to start operating in the third quarter with the mainnet following by year-end, the Moca Foundation said in a Wednesday email. The project's native token, MOCA, will be used for validator staking, storage, data generation and verification fees. MOCA rose over 6% to about $0.077 in the two hours following the announcement. Moca Network is a flagship project of Animoca Brands, fully staffed by Animoca employees, a spokesperson told CoinDesk in a Telegram message. That reflects its central role in Animoca Brands' investment strategy of advancing digital property rights through Web3 projects using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and memecoins. Ownership of one's personal data is integral to that, according to founder Yat Siu. "Moca Chain is creating a digital ecosystem where users can finally own their data, reputations and contributions," he said. "This aligns strongly with the mission of Animoca Brands to advance digital property rights and empower individuals to control and benefit from their online activities and their personal data."
India Today
20-06-2025
- Business
- India Today
Disaster after disaster: Who is accountable?
It was meant to be a week when the Narendra Modi-led NDA government would celebrate its 11th year in power with the signature 'band, baaja, baraat' media hype that has been its forte. And yet, for once, even the astute headline management skills of the government's cheerleaders couldn't detract from the awfulness of the breaking news in the second week of June: at least 270 people died in the worst civil aviation disaster in this country since two planes collided mid-air in 1996. That the Air India flight 171 crashed just outside Ahmedabad in Gujarat, the home state of the government's Big Two, perhaps makes the tragedy even more poignant. Far from celebrating a political party milestone, the nation was united in it is premature to speculate over the causes of the crash – various aviation 'experts' in TV studios have proffered different theories – the crash has triggered a renewed debate over air safety. While official data suggests India's safety track record is at par with global standards, there are enough reasons for concern. A Tata Group-run Air India management still coming to terms with the fact that running a legacy airline is not quite the same as managing a steel or any other consumer business; Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company that finds itself under scrutiny once again; the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) whose supervisory and regulatory powers over a rapidly expanding sector will come under the scanner; the Adani group which manages and operates the Ahmedabad airport will also have to provide to give context. A parliamentary standing committee report on MOCA in March this year pointed out that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was operating with 53% of its sanctioned posts vacant, while the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has a vacancy rate of 35%. The government's ambitious UDAN scheme aims to connect 120 new destinations, but its budget has been slashed by 32%. While the number of airports has nearly doubled in the last decade, the amount being spent on maintaining safety standards lags behind. Which raises a big question: will a horrific air crash change anything on the ground? The black box and flight data recorder may provide more clues as to what happened for a Dreamliner plane to explode into a fireball just seconds after take-off but will the inquiry be fair and transparent in revealing the truth given the mighty stakeholders involved? Which brings one to ask a critical question: is there any ACCOUNTABILITY in our system to ensure responsibility is fixed on key figures in a time-bound manner? Just look at the series of events in a disastrous month of June that still has some days to June 4, just a day after the IPL final, a stampede in Bengaluru during the victory celebrations of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru left 11 people dead, many more injured. The rushed event was organised despite the fact that the police had not given the required permission. With back-to-back events being organised at the Vidhan Soudha and Chinnaswamy Stadium, the police was overwhelmed by the surging crowds. A public spectacle for a privately-run franchise's triumph was given priority over the urgent need for public safety. Instead of accepting responsibility, the faction-ridden Congress government in Karnataka has busily disowned its culpability. Bengaluru's top cop has been suspended while no politician who happily posed with the star players has been held to June 9, four people died and nine were injured in a rail accident in Mumbra near Mumbai. The commuters fell onto the tracks while they were standing on the footboards of overcrowded trains. People hanging by the door in peak hour crowding is not new with a sharp curve along the Mumbra track making it even more hazardous. While a Central Railway committee is probing the incident, the underlying causes of a shambolic public transport system in a megapolis like Mumbai remain unaddressed. Is the creaking suburban train system suffering from neglect as alleged by commuter organisations while the private car traffic whizzes by on a shining coastal road?advertisementOn June 16, a bridge collapsed near Pune due to overcrowding amidst heavy rainfall, leaving four people dead and several more injured. The 30-year-old bridge was deemed 'unsafe' but, despite red flags being raised by locals for several years, a work order for the construction of a new bridge was delayed and reportedly issued only five days before the collapse. Approval of Rs 8 crore for a new bridge was given last year, but bureaucratic red-tapism meant that it was all too late to avoid a tragedy. Yet again, Maharashtra's BJP-led ruling alliance politicians have fulminated and promised action, only presumably until the next bridge collapse serves as another wake-up June 15, seven people died when a chopper flying from Kedarnath temple to Guptkashi in Uttarakhand crashed in the forest. Worryingly, this was the fifth such incident in just six weeks in the area, raising questions over the feasibility of helicopter services in inclement weather in the mountains. Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami has promised to put in place a Standard Operating Procedure while the DGCA has assured extra surveillance. Once again, a case of too little, too the chronology of each such tragedy follows a familiar pattern. Little attention is paid to adhering to strict safety norms in a characteristic 'chalta hai' attitude. Rather than focus on the rigors of daily governance, priority is given to the optics of political grandstanding. More fast trains are flagged, more airports are commissioned, more tourist sites are created, more glitzy sports celebrations are a Viksit Bharat by 2047, as envisaged by the Modi government, is a noble aim. Yet, the grim reality on the ground often doesn't match the dreams being spun in the air in a nation of 1.4 billion people. And then, when every now and then, a rickety bridge collapses, a stampede is caused by mass hysteria or there is a rail or air accident, those in positions of power are the first to shrug off their responsibility. After all, in almost all instances, it is the faceless, anonymous Indian who pays with their lives. Unless there is a fundamental change in approach that places a premium on accountability above all else, we will simply lurch from one disaster to the next. Because in India, if there is one sport that we deserve an Olympic medal in, it is 'passing the buck'.advertisementPost-script: Ironically, just a few days ago, a BBC investigative report exposed the truth of the Mahakumbh stampede deaths in January this year. Officially, the UP government claimed 37 people died, but the detailed BBC investigation found the number was at least 82. If we lie about death, what price is there for human lives?(Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist and author. His latest book is 2024: The Election That Surprised India)(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Tune InMust Watch
