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Dia Art Foundation Receives Grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

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Dia Art Foundation Receives Grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

New York, NY – Dia Art Foundation announced today that it has been awarded a $735,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to implement a new archives program and support initiatives designed to frame Dia’s long-term work at the intersection of art, site, and environment. Awarded over three years, the grant allows Dia to take significant steps in its commitment to understanding its history and exploring future projects that are central to its mission. The grant also provides funding for two new positions, an archivist and a postdoctoral scholar, and a range of new programs and activities.

“We are grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for their incredible generosity,” commented Jessica Morgan, Director, Dia Art Foundation. “With the Mellon Foundation as our partner, we can add two much needed positions to our organization. Additionally, this funding provides the necessary resources to strengthen Dia’s position as a platform for artistic production, scholarship, and discourse, contributing to a holistic understanding of the environment—as ecology, geography, and social space, as well as a locus for art, experience, and sociopolitical awareness.”

With the Mellon Foundation’s support, Dia will be able to implement a formal archives program for the first time. The archivist will be a new full-time, three-year position that will expand the work conducted by various departments to guide collections care and digitalization activities. The archivist will oversee the creation of the Dia archive, consolidating and making available a formal record of Dia’s historical work with art and environment.

The postdoctoral position of Mellon Scholar will activate Dia’s history and archival materials through current and future programs. This three-year appointment will be open to emerging scholars of diverse backgrounds whose own work will benefit from access to the Dia archive. This position will also provide an invaluable opportunity to collaborate with and learn from Dia’s curatorial team, including direct mentorship by Deputy Director and Chief Curator James Meyer.

Dia Art Foundation
Founded in 1974, Dia Art Foundation is committed to initiating, supporting, presenting, and preserving extraordinary art projects. Dia:Beacon opened in May 2003 in Beacon, New York. Dia also maintains several long-term sites, including Walter De Maria’s The New York Earth Room (1977) and The Broken Kilometer (1979), Max Neuhaus’s Times Square(1977), Joseph Beuys’s 7000 Eichen (7000 Oaks, which was inaugurated at Documenta 7 in 1982), and Dan Flavin’s untitled (1996), all of which are located in New York City; the Dan Flavin Art Institute (established in 1983) in Bridgehampton, New York; De Maria’s The Lightning Field (1977) in western New Mexico; Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970) in Great Salt Lake, Utah; and De Maria’s The Vertical Earth Kilometer (1977) in Kassel, Germany.

Dia currently presents temporary exhibitions and installations, performances, lectures, and readings on West 22nd Street in New York City.

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