The Marciano Art Foundation, founded by mega-collectors and Guess founders Paul and Maurice Marciano, has appointed Hanneke Skerath to a newly created director position. She began working for the Los Angeles-based foundation last month.
The Marciano Art Foundation was founded in 2013 when the Marciano brothers purchased a former Masonic temple on Wilshire Boulevard, not far from Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile. The foundation opened to the public in 2017 and features blue-chip works by the brothers, including works by Sterling Ruby, Christopher Wool, Albert Oehlen, and Mike Kelley.
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But the foundation suddenly closed in November 2019, saying at the time that “we have no current plans to reopen.” A few days after 70 employees announced their union, the foundation laid off about 60 employees, many of whom were from the visitor services department. At the time, the union claimed on social media that the foundation’s sudden closure was due to union activities, saying that the layoffs “severely hindered workers’ rights.” Shortly thereafter, the union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, and the fired employees filed a lawsuit against the foundation, which was settled in July 2020, with workers receiving approximately $205,000 in compensation and paying $70,000 in legal fees.
During this time, the Marciano Art Foundation building has been enlivened by exhibitions organized by external organizations. The most notable of these was an exhibition organized by Gagosian Gallery; the Marcianos are long-time clients of the gallery. Between 2021 and 2023, Gagosian organized three solo exhibitions at the Foundation for Oehlen, Urs Fischer, and Anselm Kiefer. In addition, in 2022, LAXART (now known as Brick) hosted a two-night program in the space, and last fall, LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Department) staged an opera by Justen Leroy in its theater space.
In a statement Art NewsA spokesperson for the foundation said, “After a long closure due to the pandemic, the Marciano Art Foundation felt it was important to utilize the historic building by donating it to partner organizations so they can continue to deliver unique programs and public programming, while also allowing free or by-appointment access to the collection for those outside of the educational community as part of a new, scaled-down model.”
In addition to developing, managing, and hosting exhibitions from the Marciano Collection, part of Skerath’s role, according to the press release, will be to lead the organization’s “efforts to lend its historic Wilshire Boulevard building to nonprofits and a variety of other creative institutions to enable the ongoing realization of unique projects and public programs. This new direction will allow MAF to operate with a renewed commitment to the public.” (According to a spokesperson, Skerath will review the foundation’s staffing needs in the coming months and “make recommendations on the best direction for the foundation’s long-term future.”)
“I am delighted to join the Marciano Art Foundation as director, and I look forward to working with the team to continue to expand and showcase the collection and explore new creative opportunities for the foundation’s unique space,” Scrase said in a statement.
In February, the foundation held its first official collection exhibition since the closure, Transmissions: Selections from the Marciano Collection, curated by Douglas Fogel and Skerras. The Marciano Art Foundation is currently maintaining normal public hours, Tuesday through Saturday, 12 noon to 6 pm; admission is free, but visitors must reserve a time slot to visit the foundation.
Skerras has been working as an independent curator and writer for a decade. She co-founded the curatorial firm Studio LBV with Fogel. Through this firm, the two served as founding artistic directors of Palomar, a private foundation on Lake Como, Italy, and also edited the 2021 book Making Strange: The Chara Schreyer Collectionfocusing on the collections of deceased California collectors.
In addition, she has curated “Friends in the Field: Conversations with Raoul De Keyser” at MuZEE in Ostend, Belgium, a solo exhibition of Shio Kusaka at Neutra VDL Studio and Residences in Los Angeles, and group exhibitions at Thomas Dane Gallery, Marc Selwyn Gallery, and Kayne Griffin Corcoran Gallery.
Olivia Marciano, who previously served as the foundation’s artistic director, said in a statement: “We are delighted to welcome Hanneke Skerras to the Marciano Arts Foundation. Hanneke’s extensive experience could not be a better fit as we strive to foster a collaborative, creative environment for the Los Angeles community. In her years in Los Angeles, she has worked in both traditional and non-traditional settings, demonstrating her unique talent for realizing projects that prioritize collaboration, insight, and rigor.”
