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: Above and beyond the stimulation and excitement of what one sees, when going through the museum, one feels this incredible generosity and faith in art-that the individuals who made the decisions here actually believe art matters in a big way.

MG: That's exactly right-we devoted ourselves to this project because we all love art. But the generosity you point out is a generosity that's also inherent in the artworks themselves.

IS: It's a very moving thing to witness this sense that they have found a home. Some of these artists have been doing this extraordinary work for years, but because it's work that's outside the official commercial art system, they've really been out there on their own. I'm thinking of people like Fred Sandback and Michael Heizer. He's an example of someone who has been creating unbelievable, ambitious work but in a place that so few people actually get to. And now some of the work has been brought to Dia.

MG: In the mid- to late-1960s Michael's work was literally and metaphorically groundbreaking. In the beginning he created what he called negative paintings, which shaped space on the wall. In 1967 he began to imagine negative sculpture, essentially creating the first version of the work you see here at Beacon--huge, empty shaped forms in the floor. It is monumental art, art that might in another era have been the equivalent of a temple. What he did was make monumental art out of absence--out of the feeling of emptying. The work we have at Beacon gives you that feeling in your gut of emptiness of space. But as you spend time with it, as I have, it's also incredibly calming, like an orderly emptying out. Michael always imagined his work would be in a museum, although there were no museums to accommodate such things at the time. [laughs]

IS: Last question. A year from now, when all the noise is over, and one gets on the train to go up to Beacon, what do you hope the feeling there will be?

MG: I expect to find it largely as I find it now. Lynne Cooke and I have been commuting from New York to Beacon every day for over a year and it's always fresh. Every time you walk into that Warhol gallery it's surprising. I think that's the hope for Beacon-that it will surprise us, as well as you, every time we return.