Capital Funds and Endowments Will Complete National Collection of Site-Specific Artworks, Museums, and Ongoing Programs

Lannan Foundation and Riggio Family Provide Collaboration and Core Support with Gifts Totaling over $50 Million

Series of Major Acquisitions Complements Dia's Founding Collection for Permanent Installation in New Facility in Beacon, New York

Dia Will Maintain Epic-Scale Site-Specific Projects by Walter De Maria, Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson, and James Turrell in American Southwest States

Donald Judd's Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, to Receive Renewed Dia Support

Dia Plans to Complete Fundraising in 2002


Dia has completed 75 percent of its $100 million "Campaign for Dia" begun in 1995 and expanded this year to complete and sustain major site-specific artworks, create museum installations for its collection, and continue exhibitions and programs at its New York City facility, announced Dia's Director and Board of Trustees. The final $25 million of the campaign is expected to be raised over the next year.

"Dia was founded by Philippa de Menil and Heiner Friedrich to support a small group of extraordinary artists and to be a vehicle for the creation and presentation of artworks that would not otherwise be supported by traditional institutions," said Dia Board Chairman Leonard Riggio. "By completing our 'Campaign for Dia' many of their unfinished dreams will be realized, as will many of our own."

"In the next few years," said Riggio, "the public will be treated to a series of newly accessible artworks and installations that complement past achievements and will comprise, in total, one of the finest presentations of the art of our time."

A centerpiece of Dia's national multisite institution is its new museum in Beacon, New York, opening in the spring of 2002. On the bank of the scenic Hudson River, on a Metro North stop 60 miles north of New York City, Dia is renovating an historic former box-printing facility to provide over 250,000 square feet of gallery space for its extensive and in-depth permanent collection including some of the most important artists of the past four decades.

Dia Director Michael Govan commented: "Dia's hallmark is its intense concentration on individual artists and long-term installations. Over almost thirty years, those efforts have produced a truly remarkable cultural legacy unlike any other, ranging from site-specific works, such as Walter De Maria's iconic 1977 Lightning Field in the New Mexico desert, to in-depth collections such as the more than 150 works by Andy Warhol now on view at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, to the permanent installations of masterpieces by seminal artists of the 1960s and '70s planned for Beacon.

"No ordinary museum could accommodate the scale and unique nature of this era's most important art. Rather than limit itself to artwork that fits a traditional museum, Dia has stretched its institutional design to accommodate the work of the artists it supports. The completion of Dia's campaign and a few key projects over next few years will give the public a greater sense of the compelling importance of these artists' accomplishments."

The "Campaign for Dia" includes:

- capital funds for the construction of Dia's new Beacon museum for works from the permanent collection;

- acquisitions of art for the Beacon installation;

- construction of large-scale works in the western United States, specifically Michael Heizer's ongoing City project in Nevada, and James Turrell's Roden Crater in Arizona;

- a series of permanent endowments for the maintenance of Dia's long-term installations, site-specific projects, Beacon museum, and Dia's exhibition program in Chelsea;

- and a collaborative effort to help create an endowment to sustain and support the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, founded by artist Donald Judd and Dia in the 1970s and now an independent foundation.

The final phase of the campaign is being launched with a series of leadership grants from foundations and Dia board members, the first of which is a unique collaboration with the New Mexico-based Lannan Foundation. Dia and the Lannan Foundation have announced a long-term agreement that includes joint funding of large-scale projects, a series of key acquisitions for the Beacon museum, and ongoing funds for the maintenance of Dia's affiliated projects in the Southwestern states.

The Lannan Foundation's commitment to Dia totals over $25 million, the single largest contribution to Dia's initiatives since its founding in the 1970s. Lannan Foundation President J. Patrick Lannan, Jr., said: "We have been involved in and have admired Dia's focused artistic initiatives for over more than a decade. With its newly planned museum for permanent installations, and renewed commitment to its efforts in the Southwest, Dia is making an incredibly historic contribution to the history of art. As we continue to focus our own philanthropic efforts, our family and Board felt strongly that this was among the most important gestures we could make to further our commitment to contemporary art."

At the same time, Dia announced that Board Chairman Leonard Riggio and his family would make contributions to Dia totaling over $25 million, including the largest single grant toward the construction of Dia's Beacon facility as well as funds for Dia's collaborative efforts with the Lannan Foundation. In 1997 the Riggio family renewed Dia's commitment to acquiring a few significant artworks for its permanent collection through the gift of Richard Serra's three Torqued Ellipses (1996-97) exhibited at Dia in Chelsea, and now slated for long-term installation in Beacon. Riggio became Chairman of Dia's Board the next year in order to help lead Dia's initiative to place its collection on permanent exhibition and to further its support of single-artist, site-specific artworks and installations.

The Houston-based Brown Foundation has made a $2 million grant to Dia toward the construction of Michael Heizer's City project in Nevada. This follows their commitment last year to acquire Donald Judd's untitled, 1976 (comprised of fifteen 5' x 5' x 3' plywood boxes) for Dia's new Beacon museum--with proceeds to provide the first endowment fund for Judd's Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. Dia trustee and Brown Foundation board member Nancy Brown Negley has championed Dia's commitment both to the Chinati Foundation and Heizer's work.

Additional leadership grants toward the final phase of the campaign totaling $6.5 million have been made by Dia Board members: Vice-Chair Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, Jay Chiat, William and Angela Haines, Linda and Harry Macklowe, and Pentti Kouri.

(The first phase of the capital drive begun in 1995 was aimed at institutional stabilization, including the creation of Dia's first permanent endowments. Leadership grants for Dia's campaign were made in 1995 and 1996 by: the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Brown Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the Bohen Foundation, John and Frances Bowes, Mimi and Peter Haas, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, and Charles Wright.)

Dia plans to complete its capital campaign in the next two years, coinciding with the opening of its new museum in Beacon, New York.



Background Information

Lannan Foundation and Riggio Family Provide Collaboration and Core Support
The scale and scope of Dia's campaign has been made possible in large part through a unique collaboration with the New Mexico-based Lannan Foundation, and the recent leadership of Dia's Board Chairman Leonard Riggio.

Mr. Riggio and his wife Louise are avid art collectors. Mr. Riggio is also Chairman and CEO of Barnes & Noble, Inc. With their acquisition and gift of Richard Serra's three Torqued Ellipses exhibited in 1997, the Riggio family rekindled Dia's commitment to collecting. Riggio became Chairman of Dia's board in 1998 to provide key leadership to the institution's efforts to place its collection on permanent view in Beacon, New York.

The Lannan Foundation, dedicating the largest part of its resources over the past ten years to contemporary art, has been an ongoing sponsor of Dia's exhibition programs and long-term projects.

The Lannan Foundation and Dia have announced a collaboration in support of several of Dia's core projects, including helping to complete and maintain individual artworks by Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson, and James Turrell in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. The Foundation has already helped establish an endowment to maintain Walter De Maria's Lightning Field in New Mexico.

A primary initiative of the Lannan Foundation has been to construct the first phase of James Turrell's Roden Crater project in Arizona. Dia collaborated with the artist at the project's inception in 1977, but was unable to continue its patronage in the early 1980s due to its lack of financial resources. The artist pursued the project through his own efforts until the Lannan Foundation began to provide substantial assistance in 1996.

More recently, the Lannan Foundation has sustained Dia's efforts to complete Michael Heizer's City project in Nevada. Begun in 1970 with support from patroness Virginia Dwan, Heizer's mile-long earth and concrete sculpture received help from Dia in the early 1990s, and is now in its second phase of construction with support from the Lannan Foundation and Dia.

In addition, the Lannan Foundation will purchase, with Dia, a series of artworks for permanent installation in Beacon, New York. Complementing Dia's focused historical collection, these important works by artists of the same generation will at once broaden the scope of the presentation and deepen the correspondences among artworks.

With Lannan's collaboration, Dia will add new artists to the Beacon installation, including Hanne Darboven, Michael Heizer, Robert Irwin, On Kawara, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, and Robert Smithson; and will be able to acquire additional artworks by artists already represented in Dia's collection.

The Lannan Foundation will also become a primary contributor in Dia's effort to establish an endowment for Judd's Chinati Foundation.

(Initial support for Dia's effort to assist the Chinati Foundation came from the Houston-based Brown Foundation last year. The Brown Foundation made a $2 million contribution to allow Dia to acquire a monumental 1974 work by Donald Judd comprised of 15 plywood boxes-originally commissioned for Dia's collection and donated to the Chinati Foundation in 1983. Judd's work, which was exhibited at Dia last year, will be permanently installed in the Beacon museum. The acquisition funds helped establish Chinati's first endowment.

With a $2 million grant announced this week, the Brown Foundation has extended its contributions to the construction of Heizer's City project. Brown has joined Dia and the Lannan Foundation to help complete this epic project over the next few years.)

Series of Major Acquisitions Complements Dia's Founding Collection For Permanent Installation in New Facility in Beacon, New York

Key art acquisitions for Dia by the Lannan Foundation, as well as the Brown Foundation's acquisition of Donald Judd's sculptures, will complement Dia's holdings acquired by Heiner Friedrich and Philippa de Menil between 1974 and 1983. Dia's first major acquisition since 1983 was Richard Serra's three Torqued Ellipses, purchased after their exhibition at Dia in 1997 through a grant from Leonard and Louise Riggio.

Including several long-term loans from artists, Dia's presentation in 250,000 square feet of new galleries at Beacon will include large-scale and in-depth installations of work by Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, John Chamberlain, Hanne Darboven, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Michael Heizer, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Blinky Palermo, Robert Ryman, Fred Sandback, Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, Andy Warhol, and Robert Whitman.

Each artist's work will be installed in galleries renovated specifically for it. "In total," said Govan, "the collection on view at Beacon will represent one the finest presentations of the work of some of the most important artists from the 1960s and 70s. Each gallery will be uniquely renovated to accommodate the specific requirements of each artist's work, and with abundant space and natural light to show each to its best effect."

The museum in Beacon culminates Dia's longstanding promise to place the majority of its extraordinary collection on public view. Sixty miles north of New York City the museum is accessible by a short walk from Beacon's Metro North commuter rail stop, or a one-hour drive from Manhattan by car. In addition to permanent and long-term installations of Dia's collection, the Beacon facility will host occasional exhibitions, performances, lectures, and ongoing educational programs. The museum will also feature an extensive library-bookshop for publications related to contemporary art, a café, outdoor gardens, and access to Beacon's Hudson River waterfront.

Dia Will Maintain Epic-Scale Site-Specific Projects by Walter De Maria, Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson, and James Turrell In American Southwest States

Working in the American Southwest desert in 1967 Michael Heizer and Walter De Maria established a new paradigm for artists to create art in the epic scale and dramatic isolation of the natural landscape outside any traditional institutional context. With initial encouragement from art patroness Virginia Dwan in the 1960s, and with Dia's subsequent patronage, De Maria, Heizer, Judd, Smithson, and Turrell sought out remote locations in New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Arizona for their work.

Now Dia, with help from the Lannan Foundation and the Brown Foundation, among others, will make a commitment to help finish two works still under construction, and provide separate endowments to maintain each project in its own specific context.

De Maria, who made his Mile-Long Drawing in 1968, finished the Lighting Field near Quemado, New Mexico in 1977--commissioned, maintained, and operated by Dia. In Nevada, Heizer created his Double Negative in 1969, and embarked on his City project in 1970, which received contributions from Dia beginning in 1990.

Smithson, with support from Virginia Dwan, created his renowned Spiral Jetty on the edge of the Great Salt Lake in Utah in 1970. Dia acquired the Spiral Jetty last year as a gift from the Robert Smithson Estate, and will maintain and provide public access to the work in the future.

Turrell began work on his Roden Crater project in 1977 with Dia's assistance, and carried on the work in the '80s through his own Skystone Foundation. In the mid-'90s, the Lannan Foundation provided funds and management for the first phase of construction, which will be completed next year. Dia will help complete the first phase of building and will maintain and provide public access to the work once it is open.

Donald Judd's Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas to Receive Renewed Dia Support

Dia has pledged substantial ongoing support for Judd's most ambitious project: the creation of a collection of permanent and site-specific art installations in the remote West Texas town of Marfa. Begun in the 1970s with Dia's patronage, Judd established the Chinati Foundation in 1985, where he continued to work on his own until his unexpected death in 1994.

In Marfa Judd converted abandoned army barracks and warehouses into a series of specific environments for the installation of his own work, as well as that of his colleagues John Chamberlain and Dan Flavin. Later Judd invited other artists, including Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Ilya Kabakov, and Roni Horn, to add installations.

Since Judd's death, the Chinati Foundation has continued to operate as an independent foundation under the direction of art historian Marianne Stockebrand. With Dia's help in 1996, Chinati established a bridge fund to begin the work of creating an institutional support structure to continue and maintain Judd's work in Marfa. With a grant from the Brown Foundation in 1999, Dia acquired the artist's landmark sculpture untitled, 1976, comprised of fifteen plywood works and thus helped create the Chinati Foundation's first endowment fund. Most recently, under the leadership of Stockebrand, its Board of Directors, and a challenge grant from the Lannan Foundation, the Chinati Foundation has secured funds to complete a large-scale installation by the late Dan Flavin, commissioned by Judd and Dia in the early 1980s, but not completed until now.

Dia will create a multi-million dollar endowment earmarked to help sustain the ongoing operations of the Chinati Foundation, with the primary purpose of maintaining in perpetuity and providing continued public access to the installations commissioned by Dia in the 1970s, including Judd's 100 milled aluminum works, Chamberlain's installation of 25 sculptures, and the newly opened work by Dan Flavin in six buildings.

Dia Plans to Complete Fundraising in 2002

Encompassing funds for its ongoing operations in New York City, its site-specific single-artist projects throughout the country, and its new museum for its permanent collection in Beacon, New York, Dia hopes to complete its capital campaign in 2002.

With leadership grants for the final round of fundraising from the Lannan Foundation, the Brown Foundation, and the Riggio family, Dia will call on foundations, government sources, and individuals to finish the drive to sustain and support its unique artistic mission.