Juan Muñoz's installation entitled A Place Called Abroad will open to the public at Dia Center for the Arts, 548 West 22nd Street, New York City, on September 26, 1996. The exhibition will be on view through June 29, 1997. Dia's gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 12 noon to 6 p.m.

In creating A Place Called Abroad, Muñoz will transform the 7,500 square foot gallery on Dia's fourth floor into a street-like environment with residual spaces populated by groups of figures. In pursuing his fascination with architecture, Muñoz deconstructs the gallery space, diagonally cutting through existing walls, in order to create a fictional street. Fragments of the pre-existing space remain visible throughout the installation. This overlay of past and present creates a habitat for Muñoz's figures.

In curator Lynne Cooke's 1995 essay for Parkett, Muñoz's figures are described as "withdrawn, absorbed or otherwise distracted" creating a "dislocated dialogue between spectator and artwork." In contrast, Muñoz's newly created figures engage with each other and transform the space into settings for exchange and display.

Juan Muñoz was born in 1953 in Madrid, Spain, where he continues to live and work. Since his first solo show in 1984, Muñoz has exhibited widely. This is his first major one-person show in an American museum.

Major funding for this exhibition has been provided by the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Spanish Cultural Ministry, Placido Arango and the members of the Dia Art Council.

Background information on A Place Called Abroad will be available at Dia's world wide web site located at www.diacenter.org.

Dia Center for the Arts is a tax-exempt charitable organization. Established in 1974, the organization has become one of the largest in the United States dedicated to contemporary art and contemporary culture. In fulfilling this commitment, Dia sustains diverse programming in poetry, arts education, and critical discourse and debate via lectures and symposia.

In addition, it maintains on a long-term basis works of art not easily accommodated by conventional museums. Dia serves as a conduit forrealizing these projects, as intimated by the Greek word from which it takes its name. Dia's long-term projects include Joseph Beuys's 7000 Oaks; Walter De Maria's The Broken Kilometer, The Lightning Field, and The New York Earth Room; La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela's Dream House and The Dan Flavin Art Institute; Cy Twombly Gallery; and The Andy Warhol Museum.

Current programs are supported in part by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany through the German Consulate General of New York; Axe-Houghton Foundation; The Bohen Foundation; The Brown Foundation; The Cowles Charitable Trust; The Getty Grant Program; The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; Lannan Foundation; Robert Lehman Foundation, Inc.; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Arthur Ross Foundation; Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund at Community Funds, Inc.; The Chase Manhattan Bank; Philip Morris Companies Inc.; Tag Heuer; Time Warner Inc.; and the individual members of the Dia Art Council.