Shining beacon: thinking big. thinking out of the box. thinking art. interview talks to the director of a brave new museum

Interview, July, 2003 by Ingrid Sischy

IS: How many of you did it take to pull off this project?

MG: Oh, it's a huge group. But it's not just the past five years that we've been working on it--it's the past 30 years that it took to make this artwork. The more recent leadership of people like Len Riggio, the dedication of the board, the curatorial acumen of somebody like Lynne Cooke who selected artists over these years and encouraged and worked with them, and as the unsung hero of the project, a gentleman by the name of James Schaeufele, who has worked at Dia for 23 years and who constructed the Dan Flavin Art Institute in Bridgehampton. He moved to Beacon three years ago with his family to direct the Construction of the project. These are among the absolutely key people who made this happen, but there were so many others.

IS: So what's exhibited at Dia:Beacon?

MG: This is a home for Dia's collection, which was formed in two phases: one between 1974 and 1983 as Heiner Friedrich, Philippa de Menil and Helen Winkler, working with various artists, commissioned numerous projects like Andy Warhol's Shadows, which was made up of 102 panels. And the second phase began around 1998, with the acquisition of Richard Serra's Torqued Ellipses, a work that came out of the exhibition of his work that we had in Chelsea.

Given the opportunity presented by this building and its space, we also assembled additional works, all based on the [foundation's] current collection and its history with various artists. For example, we had a major exhibition long ago of Robert Ryman's work in Chelsea that developed into a long-term relationship.

IS: Sol LeWitt too, right?

MG: Sol is a relative newcomer to the group, although he is one of the most important artists of the time. Gerhard Richter is also someone we had shown in the past and who had worked with Lynne, and her discussions with him led to the realization of a major new work here at Beacon. It was the same with discussions we'd had over many years with Hanne Darboven and Louise Bourgeois. The installation of On Kawara's Date paintings, the huge piece Cultural History 1880-1983 by Hanne Darboven, and the majority of the new acquisitions were made for the museum by the Lannan Foundation, and the Brown Foundation also contributed in a meaningful way. Others who were involved in acquisitions include the Riggios, who not only acquired the Torqued Ellipses but a number of other works by Richard Serra as well as ones by Donald Judd, and then there are all the other contributions by the other Dia board members.

IS: So how many artists are represented in total?

MG: 23, including Robert Irwin. The collection has virtually doubled since the 1970s and '80s, but it's also not encyclopedic. There are many important artists of the era that are not shown at Dia: Beacon. This is what's come together in a long history of collecting and of exhibiting work which then led to long-term relationships with artists. It was held together very loosely by the idea that these are artists that emerged in the 1960s and '70s--it's a very radical group--and as diverse as they all are, they broke all sorts of boundaries in terms of the nature of art works. Entering Beacon is like stepping into 23 different worlds.