It was nice to see an art story on the cover of the NYTime’s Magazine this week though we’re all very troubled about the war and the Bush administration’s imperial ambitions (see this article for a great overview: washington monthly article).

The NYTime’s article, The Dia Generation, covers the history of The Dia Center from it’s inception in the early 70s to the opening of a major new museum in upstate NY, Dia: Beacon, which focuses on 60s/70s minimalism, conceptualism, Earth Art and etc.

The article was a bit dry with the history of the infighting and whatnot, but what’s interesting is how the early Dia acted like Renaissance patrons.

from the article: ‘Friedrich compared what he was doing — now with his wife’s fortune — to the Medicis. ”Dia didn’t tap something new; it tapped something old,” he said at the time. ”Our values are as powerful as those in the Renaissance.” For emphasis, he added that Dan Flavin ”is as important as Michelangelo.”’ They handpicked a few artists and supported them extravagantly for some years giving them everything they needed to create work with no constraints of economy, time, or space.

I wonder what our contemporary net, web, and new media artists could do with the money, time, and space that were given to the Dia’s lucky chosen few. permanent link to this post