DESIGN DISPATCH

The Hammer Museum, LACMA and MOCA LA Have a New Joint Art Collection, and Other News

Our daily look at the world through the lens of design.

The Lynda and Stewart Resnick Cultural Center at the Hammer Museum. Photography by Eric Staudenmaier, via the Hammer Museum

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The Hammer Museum, LACMA, and MOCA LA establish a shared collection of artwork.

Three of L.A.’s most prominent museums—the Hammer, LACMA, and MOCA—have partnered to form a joint contemporary art collection. Its inaugural holdings consist of 260 works donated by Jarl and Pamela Mohn. The collection, named the Mohn Art Collective: Hammer, LACMA, MOCA (MAC3), will focus on acquiring and showcasing art by local artists, with additional funding from the Mohns going towards ongoing acquisitions and collection care. 

London taps interdisciplinary artist Khaleb Brooks to create a memorial to slavery.

Researcher, writer, and painter-printmaker Khaleb Brooks has been awarded a commission to create a memorial to victims of transatlantic slavery in London. The memorial, titled The Wake, will consist of a nearly 23-foot-tall bronze cowrie shell: a symbol of African heritage, resilience, and slavery’s brutal history. The Wake is supported by more than $662,000 in funding from the mayor’s office, and is expected to be unveiled at the West India quay of the London Docklands in 2026. 

Image courtesy of Ikea's 2024 Sustainability Report.

Come December, you’ll be able to buy secondhand Ikea direct from the Swedish retailer.

Ikea is testing Ikea Preowned, a secondhand online marketplace that will allow customers to sell their used Ikea furniture directly to each other. The retailer has piloted the program in Madrid and Oslo and aims to expand globally by December.

At a “breaking point,” Yeezy visionary Steven Smith departs Donda Designs and YZY.

Kanye West, also known as Ye, has fired longtime Yeezy designer Steven Smith, a dramatic end to the eight-year partnership that played a crucial role in Yeezy’s success. During his tenure, Smith steered the launch of YZY, Yeezy’s post-Adidas pivot after the activewear brand ended its partnership with Ye over his antisemitic comments, and was the sole employee of Donda Design.

After a high-rise fire, the U.K.’s Fire Brigades Union disavows building deregulation.

A fire in an east London high-rise has reignited concerns over flammable building cladding, with the U.K.’s Fire Brigades Union (FBU) calling its usage a “national scandal.” The FBU criticized ongoing regulatory failures, highlighting that, seven years after the Grenfell Tower disaster, thousands of U.K. buildings still use unsafe cladding, with remediation efforts lagging significantly.

Typewriter art of Lower Manhattan by James Cook. Image courtesy of James Cook.

Today’s attractive distractions:

Buying real-estate for the end of the world? Here’s some advice.

A typewriter is an artist’s medium of choice for depicting New York City. 

Ancient Greco-Roman sculptures aren’t always intentionally headless.

Behold, the very real-seeming transportive power of psychoactive trips.

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