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Prototype, New Project by Artist Jorge Pardo Opens at Dia:Chelsea

Site-specific installation on view from September 17, 2003-January 11, 2004

Beginning Wednesday, September 17, Dia:Chelsea presents Prototype, a new work by Jorge Pardo that will be installed in Dia's first-floor gallery in multiple phases. Dia recently commissioned this large-scale plywood structure, which is designed to be adaptable for a variety of functions. While it was created in the artist's Los Angeles studio, this kit is intended to be assembled on-site. Dia's first-floor gallery was redesigned by the artist, along with Dia's bookshop and lobby, in 2000 for his exhibition "Project." Prototype will be on view through Sunday, January 11, 2004. Exhibition hours for the 2003-04 season are Wednesday though Sunday, 12 noon to 6 pm.

Prototype comprises components-computer-generated forms based on irregular geometries-that are laser-cut from plywood following the computer's instructions. As a full-scale model for a prefabricated structure, it can be modified and reassembled depending on the function of the structure, whether that is an outdoor pavilion, a residence, or a performance space.

"Project"
For "Project," which opened in September 2000, Pardo created a new admissions lobby, bookshop, and exhibition gallery on Dia's 9,000-square-foot first floor, infusing the environment with natural and refracted light by means of a lively palette of ceramic tiles. Since then, Dia has presented a series of exhibitions within Pardo's unique and vibrant design. In 2001-02, a collaborative exhibition between Pardo and Italian artist Gilberto Zorio, titled "Reverb," was exhibited. For "Reverb," Microfoni, a sound work first created by Zorio in 1969, was interwoven into "Project" and partially enveloped by a monumental curtain created by Pardo. In September 2002, Dia opened "Refraction," a focused selection of works by Gerhard Richter installed in the ground-floor gallery and set in Pardo's environment. "Refraction" highlighted the artists' shared interest in issues of framing, representation, and the relationship between a work of art and its environment. For the current exhibition, Pardo's Prototype, a structure of variable construction, reflects the artist's interest in prefabricated structures that may be assembled to serve diverse functions.

Jorge Pardo
Pardo was born in 1963 in Havana, Cuba, and moved to the United States in 1969. He earned his BFA at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and has exhibited widely since his first solo show in 1988. Throughout his career, Pardo has mixed work devised for traditional museum spaces with artistic pursuits sited in other venues. In 1997, he held a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. This followed a substantial commission to create a café for the Leipzig Messe, in Germany, in 1996. Pardo's large-scale work ranges from a temporary pier for Sculptur.Projekte Münster in 1997, which subsequently became permanent, to a house, 4166 Sea View Lane, which he presented in 1998 in the context of a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Pardo lives and works in Los Angeles and on Long Island.

Related Programming
Artist Jessica Stockholder will lecture on Pardo's work on Thursday, December 18, 2003 as part of Dia's Artists on Artists lecture series. The lecture takes place at 6:30 pm at Dia's exhibition facility at 548 West 22nd Street. Admission is $6; $3 for members, students and seniors. Tickets are available on the day of the lecture only. For more information please call 212 989 5566.

Dia
Dia Art Foundation was founded in 1974. A nonprofit institution, Dia plays a vital role among visual arts organizations nationally and internationally by initiating, supporting, presenting, and preserving art projects, and by serving as a locus for interdisciplinary art and criticism. Dia presents its permanent collection at Dia:Beacon, in Beacon, New York; exhibitions and public programming at Dia:Chelsea (formerly Dia Center for the Arts) in New York City; and long-term, site-specific projects in the western United States, in New York City, and on Long Island.

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