Los Angeles MOCA, The Spin

This is worth reading if only to understand how to not appear trustworthy.

Tyler Green, never one to shy away from a scoop, gets a tip that the Los Angeles-based MOCA will open a store featuring designer Louis Vuitton's high-priced, designer bags and accessories when it opens its Takashi Murakami retrospective. The idea, at least from MOCA's side, is that Murakami's designs have been featured by Vuitton.

So Green asks MOCA for comment. This is what he gets, and reports on August 2.:

MOCA spokesperson Lyn Winter says that the reports are inaccurate -- but refused to answer when I asked exactly what in the two stories is wrong. "I cannot comment until we make official announcements," Winter told me via email.

Okay.

Naturally, Tyler was miffed when, a week later, the Los Angeles Times ran this story, which led with the fact that the museum will "merge the worlds of art and commerce this fall by including a fully operational Louis Vuitton boutique as part of a retrospective of the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami."

Winter's response to Tyler when he presses her to explain the answers she gave a week earlier.

"So you know, at the time you called me last week, I was not in a position to announce any information about this project as agreements had not be signed regarding the inclusion of the store as an integral part of the exhibition.

The previous pieces you referred to were inaccurate in that they did not explain the curatorial context of the store as a part of the exhibition - rather they suggested that it would be a free standing commercial venture at the museum."