It’s been a busy month for us: moving into the massive new space at 26 Broadway, presenting our second studio project for a critique, and visiting Dia: Beacon. The Dia trip was a joint excursion for our professional practice, NYC seminar, and art history courses. We caught a train from Grand Central Terminal up to Beacon, NY to spend the day at Dia and meet Jessica Morgan, the new director of the Dia Art Foundation. We were all absolutely awed to hear her speak of her career trajectory spanning from curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, director of the 10th Gwangju Biennale this past fall, and curator at the Tate in London. She brought a more global perspective to the Tate Modern, which shows both modern and contemporary art. As eight young women artists, it’s pretty incredible and fortifying to meet a female director and curator who has had so much influence in the global art world.
Afterwards, we were treated to an excellent tour of select works within Dia: Beacon. The space, a former Nabisco box printing factory, retains the original brick walls and high ceilings with skylights that flood the area with natural light. The scale and openness of the location was fitting for the large scale of many pieces present, including Richard Serra’s Torqued Ellipses and Michael Heizer’s North, East, South, West.
There was a general consensus among us that the Dia was what art museums should be like, however the unfortunate truth is that many are moving in the opposite direction. The trip to Dia: Beacon left us with a new understanding of how art can be funded and shown and how, regardless of site-specificity, the location can completely change the experience.
