They carefully trace the tumultuous journey that eventually led to the opening of Dia Beacon. Articles written in 19 offer more detailed accounts of the fascinating and complicated story of the Dia Foundation. However, those in charge have welcomed their input along the way. Today, the Dia Foundation’s custodial responsibilities encompass Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970) in the Great Salt Lake of Utah, Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels (1973–76) in the Great Basin Desert in northwestern Utah, and other works conceived in the late 1970s.īy the time of Dia Beacon’s opening in 2003 the founders were no longer involved with the foundation in an official capacity. In addition to De Maria, artists such as Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Micheal Heizer were among a fortunate group of artists who had the freedom to design multi-million dollar projects, oftentimes involving the purchase of land and properties in remote locations. The Dia Foundation continues to maintain these sites. Dia also purchased a piece of land in Quemado, New Mexico for De Maria’s outdoor installation, The Lightening Field(1977). This move was followed by another installation of De Maria, The Broken Kilometer (1979), which was placed on permanent view at 393 West Broadway in New York City. Rather than empty his gallery space and prepare for a new exhibition following Walter de Maria’s New York Earth Room installation in 1977, Friedrich left this gallery space filled with dirt to become a permanent exhibition and relocated to a new gallery space. He sought permanence and, after joining forces with Fariha, he was able to fully realize a magnanimous vision of art collection/patronage. This philosophy originated with Heiner Friedrich when he was a gallery owner in Germany and later in New York City. They patronized projects that were not limited to the bounds of the conventional spaces or schedules of museums or galleries.
The founders had grand visions for the art that could be realized with the backing of Fariha’s wealth.
Dia can also mean ‘the godlike one’ and has been used to describe the dynamic between the Dia founders/patrons, ‘dia-ties,’ and the artists, ‘dia-fied.’įariha and Heiner Friedrich were married (but have since divorced), converted to Sufi Islam (Philippa’s first name was changed to Fariha when she converted to Islam during the wedding ceremony to Heiner) and co-founded Dia with Helen Winkler in the mid to late 1970s. The term ‘dia’ is a Greek term that translates as ‘through’. The Menil Collection in Houston, where this family’s world class art collection is housed in several buildings, is spread across an art campus including the Rothko Chapel. Fariha, born Philippa de Menil, is the youngest daughter of John and Dominique de Menil, of the Schlumberger oil fortune. German gallery owner Heiner Friedrich, Fariha Friedrich (née de Menil) and Helen Winkler Fosdick founded Dia. These efforts, when combined with the founder’s original mission, is a reassuring shift that will hopefully continue to expand the depth and breadth of this foundation’s potential for future generations. Recently and most significantly, Dia has taken steps to broaden its platform. Acquisitions from the 1970s and 1980s, when the founders were most active as patrons and collectors, have been installed and/or realized on a semi-permanent to permanent basis. The re-design of this former factory into Dia Beacon honored the founders’ original vision and relied on input from the artists whose work make up the foundation’s core collection. The high ceilings, vast open spaces, exposed beams, brick walls, white surfaces, and abundance of natural light made for an unexpectedly moving experience. However, as I made my way through the galleries, for the most part without disruption from others, I was overtaken by this space.
With a vague idea of the Dia Foundation’s origin story and familiarity with the artists that have been central to its programming, I was anticipating a shrine to the white male ego – a space that would feel out of step with the widespread turmoil and outrage towards the inequities that continue to plague institutions across all sectors, to which the art world has not been immune. After months of looking at art online this in-person visit was shaped by a heightened sense of awareness.
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