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10.12.2009
DIA ART FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES PLAN TO OPEN A NEW SPACE IN CHELSEA
New building will house artists´commissions and installations and serve as a site for innovative scholarship and public programs
Philippe Vergne, director, Dia Art Foundation, announced November 6 that Dia will construct a new building in West Chelsea for a reinvigorated New York City program. It will be located at 545 West 22nd Street, on the footprint of a building that Dia currently owns. In keeping with the organization’s historical commitment to in-depth support of ambitious projects, the space will provide a New York City location for commissioned artworks. It will also house exhibitions; long-term installations; public programs including readings, lectures, and symposia; and performances.
The decision to open a new site in West Chelsea follows Dia’s 2004 closing of its former New York City space, which was in need of substantial renovation and was found to be inadequate for Dia’s programming needs. Dia subsequently explored other locations throughout Manhattan and, given the shift in the cultural landscape that has taken place since 2004, it determined that it would reestablish a presence in Chelsea. With the new site, Dia will again serve as an institutional anchor for the contemporary-art neighborhood that it pioneered in the late 1980s and that is now home to a rich mix of art galleries, theaters, public spaces, and diverse nonprofit organizations.
Mr. Vergne, working in collaboration with Dia’s staff and in dialogue with its board, is conceptualizing the artistic and architectural program for the new space, which will provide flexible conditions in which artists across generations, disciplines, and cultures can experiment and produce new works.
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