It’s official. Following a weekend of rumor-mill overdrive, Los Angeles’ MOCA announced this morning that Jeffrey Deitch (of Deitch Projects in New York, duh) will be its new director, a stunning move (and a first) for a public institution. The news has sent the art world into existential crisis, so we advise against leisurely strolls around Chelsea lest you be hit by some conceptual assemblage flung in a fit of despair. We’re trying to figure out what all the fuss is about, since it would seem one gallery stiff is as good as another. But apparently it has to do with the conflict of a commercial dealer seated at the helm of a venerable public institution. But if things hold to pattern, we can look forward to a slew of fabulous parties at the museum (maybe even a fashion bash or two), across-the-board appointments of suspiciously cute staffers and after-parties at the Chateau Marmont. The only possible downer: no word yet on the future of the Deitch Projects empire, which for the last decade has championed a legion of downtown artists. We wonder if they’ll make the move, too.