New York, NY-Dia Art Foundation announces exhibitions and programs in Beacon and New York City for fall 2005. In October Joan Jonas will present a new performance work at Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries, Dia's museum in the Hudson Valley, as part of an ongoing series. Also at Dia:Beacon, Dia's continuing retrospective of paintings by Agnes Martin will open a new phase beginning December 2, dedicated to Martin's work from the 1970s. Programs at the museum include Readings in Contemporary Literature, launched in May 2005, and continuing Gallery Talks and Community Free Days. In New York City, Dia hosts a performance by Andrea Fraser in conjunction with the launch of her new book from MIT Press as well as continuing the Artists on Artists Lectures. Web-based works by Maja Bajevic and Dorothy Cross commissioned for Dia's series of Artists Projects for the Web will launch this winter. More information on Dia's exhibitions and programs is available at www.diaart.org.

Dia:Beacon's days and hours of operation change seasonally to accommodate the change in daylight. Winter hours for the museum, 11 am to 4 pm daily, Friday through Monday, begin on Friday, October 21, 2005 and continue through April 10, 2006. The museum's café and bookshop open at 10:30 am daily.

Joan Jonas, The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things
Created partly in response to German art historian Aby Warburg's writings during his visit to the American Southwest, Joan Jonas's new site-specific performance employs multiple projections and a live piano soundtrack by jazz pianist Jason Moran. The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things will be presented on three weekends at Dia:Beacon in October, with performances taking place on October 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, and 23 at 2 pm. Admission for the performances is $15 general, $13 for students and seniors and $3 for Dia members. Tickets include museum admission.

Agnes Martin, "To The Islands"
On December 2, Dia's ongoing retrospective exploration of Agnes Martin's work enters a third phase, focusing on paintings from the years 1974 to 1979. The first two parts of the five-part presentation concentrated on Martin's early career, the decade (1957-67) that she spent in New York City before moving permanently to New Mexico. This third installment, "To The Islands," highlights works created during the years when Martin resumed painting after a self-imposed hiatus, culminating in The Islands (1979), a suite of twelve subtly interrelated paintings. This presentation will be on view through June 27, 2006, to be followed with a fourth component dedicated to works from the 1980s, in mid 2006.

Readings in Contemporary Literature at Dia:Beacon
In May 2005 Dia launched Readings in Contemporary Literature at Dia:Beacon. Evolving from the popular Readings in Contemporary Poetry series held at Dia:Chelsea from 1987-2003, the program brings writers working in a variety of literary genres to the museum to read from their recent work and to participate in a week-long residency. A biannual colloquy will provide a public forum for a discussion between the writers, the public, and members of the visual art community. Readings for fall 2005 include essayist and poet Lewis Hyde on September 18 and poet August Kleinzahler on November 6. Tickets are $15; $13 for students and seniors and $3 for members. Tickets include museum admission.

Gallery Talks at Dia:Beacon
The popular monthly Gallery Talks series at Dia:Beacon is in its third year. Free with museum admission, the talks focus on artists in Dia's collection and are given by curators, art historians, and writers. Talks take place on the last Saturday of every month at 1 pm in Dia's galleries. The 2005-2006 schedule includes presentations by Judith Rodenbeck (on Donald Judd, September 24), Rhea Anastas (on Fred Sandback, October 29), Johanna Burton (on John Chamberlain, November 26), Susan Aberth (on Louise Bourgeois, December 17), Neil Printz (on Andy Warhol, January 28), Tiffany Bell (on Dan Flavin, February 25), Jack Bankowsky (on Louise Lawler, March 25) and David Deitcher (on On Kawara, April 29).

Community Free Days at Dia:Beacon
Community Free Days invite residents of neighboring counties to visit Dia:Beacon free of charge on selected Saturdays throughout the year. The dates alternate year-to-year, offering an opportunity to experience the range of seasons at the museum. Dates for the 2005-2006 season, chosen to coincide with "Second Saturday Beacon," a monthly citywide arts and culture open house, are October 8 (Dutchess County); December 10 (Columbia County); February 11, 2006 (Orange County); and April 8, 2006 (Putnam County).

Book launch and performance in New York City
In October Dia and Andrea Fraser will celebrate the launch of Fraser's new book Museum Highlights: The Writings of Andrea Fraser (MIT Press) with a performance of Fraser's Official Welcome (2001). Edited by Alexander Alberro and with a foreword by Pierre Bourdieu, Museum Highlights collects essays and performance scripts written by Fraser between 1985 and 2003. The performance and launch will take place on Monday, October 31 at 6:30 pm.

Artists on Artists Lectures in New York City
Made possible by a grant from Art for Art's Sake, New York, this series, which was established in 2001, highlights the work of artists in Dia's collection and exhibition programs. The fall 2005 schedule includes James Welling on Andy Warhol on Monday, September 26, David Reed on Blinky Palermo on Monday, October 17, and Barbara Bloom on Robert Irwin on Monday, December 19 to be followed in the spring with presentations by Matthew Buckingham and Zoe Leonard. Admission is $6; $3 for members, students, and seniors.

Artists Projects for the Web
New artworks for the internet by Maja Bajevic and Dorothy Cross will launch this fall as part of Dia's series of Artists Projects for the Web. Since beginning the series in early 1995, Dia has commissioned twenty-three web-based project projects from artists who are interested in exploring the potentials of the medium. Dia's collection of web projects includes works by Francis Alÿs, David Claerbout, Diller + Scofidio, Molissa Fenley, Susan Hiller, Komar & Melamid, Glenn Ligon, Feng Mengbo, Allen Ruppersberg, Shimabuku, Gary Simmons, Marijke van Warmerdam, Stephen Vitiello, among others. All of the projects can be viewed at www.diaart.org

Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries
Dia:Beacon, Dia Art Foundation's museum in the Hudson Valley, presents a distinguished collection of contemporary art from the 1960s to the present. Situated on the banks of the Hudson River in Beacon, New York, the museum occupies a former Nabisco box-printing facility, which was renovated by Dia with artist Robert Irwin and architect OpenOffice.

Dia:Beacon's expansive galleries comprise 240,000 square feet of exhibition space illuminated by natural light. The museum houses works by a focused group of some of the most significant artists of the last half century, including Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, John Chamberlain, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Michael Heizer, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Imi Knoebel, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Blinky Palermo, Gerhard Richter, Robert Ryman, Fred Sandback, Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, Andy Warhol, and Lawrence Weiner.

Dia Art Foundation
Dia Art Foundation was founded in 1974. A nonprofit institution, Dia is internationally renowned for initiating, supporting, presenting, and preserving art projects. Dia presents public programs and its permanent collection of works from the 1960s through the present at Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries, in Beacon, New York, within a 300,000 square-foot former printing facility on the Hudson River. Dia plans to relocate its acclaimed contemporary exhibition program in New York City to a site adjacent to the future entrance to the High Line park in Lower Manhattan. Additionally, the foundation maintains long-term, site-specific projects in the western United States, in New York City, and on Long Island.