DIA ART FOUNDATION / DIA CENTER FOR THE ARTS / DIA:BEACON

Chelsea New York, New York / Beacon, New York

The word "dia" in Greek means "through" and represents the Dia's initial and ongoing support for artists, artist projects and long-term installations.

 

The Dia Art Foundation was founded by Heiner Friedrich and Philippa de Menil in 1974. Early long-term projects and installations funded and supported by the Dia included the following works by: Joseph Beuys (7000 Eichens), Walter de Maria (The Lightening Field, New Mexico / The Broken Kilometer, New York / The New York Earth Room), Dan Flavin (the Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton, New York), and Donald Judd (Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas). In 1999 the Dia took over the support for Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake after the Smithson estate gave the work to Dia.

 

In 1987 the Dia opened an exhibition space at 548 West 22nd Street in the Chelsea section of New York City. The first director was Charles Wright who continued the support for the existing core group of artists and extended the institutional support to a number of additional artists, such as the Bechers, Bruce Nauman, Richard Serra, and Lawrence Weiner; as well as younger artists of the next generation, including Jenny Holzer, Robert Gober, and Ann Hamilton. The exhibitions and artist projects at Chelsea were for the most part year-long installations. Lynn Cooke was hired by Wright in 1991 as curator and her leadership opened up new projects that included important publications on contemporary art and social issues. Michael Govan took over the director's position in mid1990s and along with the interest and funds from the board president Len Riggio, the Dia developed and opened a 240,000 square foot exhibition space along the Hudson River in Beacon, New York within the former Nabisco box printing factory in May, 2003. [The Dia space in Chelsea closed (temporarily for renovation) in 2004.] Michael Govan left the Dia in 2006 to direct the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Jeffrey Weiss took over the director's position at Dia in 2007. Less than a year later Jeffery Weiss resigned his position to return to curatorial and reseach work. As of March 2008 the Dia is looking for a new director.

COLLECTION CATALOGUE
Dia: Beacon	Lynne Cooke and Michael Govan	2003
FIRST EXHIBITIONS AT 548 WEST 22ND STREET CHELSEA	THREE ARTISTS
Joseph Beuys	Dia Art Foundation, New York	1987
Imi Knoebel	Dia Art Foundation, New York	1987
Blinky Palermo	Dia Art Foundation, New York	1987
BINDER OF SOLO EXHIBITIONS - CHELSEA
Dia Chelsea	Dia Chelsea, New York	1981-
OTHER EXHIBITIONS [see artist pages for related ephemera]
Group Material: Democracy: A Project by Group Material	Dia Art Foundation	1990
Robert Lehman Lectures on Contemporary Art #1	Dia Art Foundation	1996
Robert Lehman Lectures on Contemporary Art #2	Dia Art Foundation	2004
Robert Lehman Lectures on Contemporary Art #3	Dia Art Foundation	2004
PERMANENT INSTALLATIONS
Joseph Beuys : 7000 Eichens (Oaks)	Kassel, Germany / New York	1982
Dan Graham: Two Way Mirror Cylinder Inside Cube and a Video Salon [video and book - Dia's Rooftop Urban Park Project]	Dia, New York	1992
Walter de Maria: The Broken Kilometer / The New York Earth Room	393 West Broadway / 141 Wooster Street, New York	'79 / '80
PUBLICATIONS
	DISCUSSIONS IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE
Discussions in Contemporary Culture	# 1 edited by Hal Foster	1987
Democracy: A Project by Group Material	# 5 edited by Brian Wallis	1990
If You Lived Here: The City in Art, Theory, and Social Activism - A Project by Martha Rosler	# 6 edited by Brian Wallis	1991
Remaking History	# 4 Edited by Barbara Kruger and Phil Mariani	1989
MENTIONED IN
Art, Activism & Oppositionality: Essays from Afterimage	Duke University Press	1989
SoHo: The Rise and Fall of an Artists' Colony	Routledge	2003