March 8–September 9, 2019
3 Beekman Street
Beacon, New York
United States
Charlotte Posenenske: Work in Progress, the first North American retrospective dedicated to the German artist, opens this spring at Dia:Beacon in Beacon, New York. The exhibition, which is the largest presentation of the artist’s work to date, traces the evolution of Posenenske’s practice from early experiments with mark making, to transitional wall reliefs, to industrially fabricated modular sculptures, which are produced in unlimited series and assembled or arranged by consumers at will.
Posenenske exhibited widely during the years that she was active as an artist, alongside peers such as Hanne Darboven, Donald Judd, and Sol LeWitt, with whom she shared an interest in seriality. However, her work is distinguished by its radically open-ended nature. Embracing reductive geometry, repetition, and industrial fabrication, she developed a form of mass-produced Minimalism that addressed the pressing socioeconomic concerns of the decade by circumventing the art market and rejecting established formal and cultural hierarchies. Posenenske used permutation and contingency as playful conceptual devices to oppose compositional hierarchy and invite the collaborative engagement of the public in the continual reconfiguration of her variable sculptures.
The exhibition is on view at Dia:Beacon from March 8 to September 9, 2019, before traveling to Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (October 18, 2019–March 8, 2020), Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen Düsseldorf (April 4–August 2, 2020), and Mudam Luxembourg—Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean (October 2, 2020–January 10, 2021).
Charlotte Posenenske: Work in Progress is made possible by major support from Brenda R. Potter. Significant support is provided by the Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation, VIA Art Fund, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Generous support is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and the Straus Family Fund.
DiaTalks
Rita McBride and Ulrich Lehmann on Charlotte Posenenske
Saturday, March 9, 2019, 2pm
Dia:Beacon
3 Beekman Street
Beacon, New York
An Evening of Screenings in Conjunction with Charlotte Posenenske: Work in Progress
In collaboration with Electronic Arts Intermix
Thursday, July 11, 6:30pm
Dia:Chelsea
535 West 22nd Street, 5th Floor
New York City
Posenenske Sessions
In conjunction with the exhibition Charlotte Posenenske: Work in Progress, Dia presents at Dia:Beacon a month of open discussions, which take Posenenske’s work as a point of departure. Entrusting audiences with the creation of new artworks through the arrangement of her modular sculptures, the artist made critical contributions to the development of serial, site-specific, and participatory practices. In 1968, frustrated by the systemic divide between the art world and the working class, she began studying sociology and repositioned her practice as an advisor in support of labor unions. These Beacon-based sessions invite participants to contribute to a sustained conversation about the labor of making and the spaces in which this unfolds.
Session leaders include artists Rey Akdogan and Alan Ruiz, sociologist and labor scholar Stephanie Luce, and architect Diana Mangaser. Each session is free with museum admission and open to the public. Space is limited; reservations are required.
Friday, May 31, 2019, 6pm
Friday, June 7, 2019, 6pm
Friday, June 14, 2019, 6pm
Friday, June 21, 2019, 6pm
Dia:Beacon
3 Beekman Street
Beacon, New York
Dia
Taking its name from the Greek word meaning “through,” Dia was established in 1974 with the mission to serve as a conduit for artists to realize ambitious new projects, unmediated by overt interpretation and uncurbed by the limitations of more traditional museums and galleries. In addition to Dia:Beacon and Dia:Chelsea, Dia maintains and operates a constellation of commissions, long-term installations, site-specific projects, and Land art, nationally and internationally.
Video or audio files of past public programs are available on Dia’s website in the Watch & Listen section.
Dates are subject to change. For additional information or materials, e-mail press [at] diaart.org or call T 212 293 5518.
