Hammer Museum, LACMA, MOCA launch joint collection of contemporary L.A. art

The directors of the Hammer Museum at UCLA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, will jointly own and manage a new collection of contemporary art to be founded through the acquisition of 260 works from the collection of local philanthropists Jarl and Pamela Mohn.

The Mohn collection, largely amassed over the last 19 years, comprises paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works by Los Angeles-based artists. The initial gift will seed what will become a continually growing collection, with the Mohns creating an endowment to fund annual acquisitions and expenses related to the collection's care and storage. The collaboration has been dubbed "MAC3" for Mohn Art Collective, with the "3" representing the Hammer, LACMA and MOCA.

On top of the Mohns' gift, the Hammer will enhance the MAC3 collection with 80 works previously acquired by the museum through its "Made in L.A." biennials since 2012. Additionally, curators from all three institutions gathered to make the collection's first joint acquisitions when they unanimously selected 16 works from "Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living." The MAC3 collection currently includes 356 artworks.

The co-owned collection establishes a groundbreaking model for institutional collaboration and a commitment to directly supporting the artist communities of Los Angeles. The gift will enable the three institutions to collectively acquire works by L.A. artists on an annual basis, with acquisitions chosen jointly by curatorial teams from all three museums. Every other year, those acquisitions will come directly out of future editions of "Made in L.A." During alternating years, curators will identify works for acquisition by visiting studios and exhibitions to inform their ongoing discussions.

The full collection will be available to each institution for display, and the group will prioritize a lending program to encourage the showing of the works at other museums around the world.

The existing Mohn collection features works by more than 125 Los Angeles-based artists, including more than 20 who are faculty or alumni of UCLA's School of Arts and Architecture.

Read more about the unique collaboration on the Hammer Museum website (PDF).