NEW YORK, NY.- Today
Dia Art Foundation announced the releases of three limited edition vinyl LPs from artists closely connected to its programming and collection: Carl Craig, Lucy Raven, and La Monte Young. All three artists have had recent major exhibitions at Dia Beacon or Dia Chelsea in 2020, 2021, and 2015, respectively. Dia is also pleased to announce the acquisition of Carl Craig’s immersive sound-and-light installation Party/After-Party (2020) and Lucy Raven’s film installation Ready Mix (2021). In 2015, Dia acquired a unique version of La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and Jung Hee Choi’s Dream House, titled Dia 15 VI 13 545 West 22 Street Dream House (2015).
“It gives me great pleasure to announce this furthering of Dia’s work with sound, which began in the 1970s. Audiences have been able to encounter these unique explorations of Minimalist sound within our galleries, and now have the opportunity to experience new iterations of these sonic works at home. Emblematic of Dia’s expansive and long-term approach to working with artists, each of these releases has been accompanied by an exhibition and a major acquisition,” said Jessica Morgan, Dia’s Nathalie de Gunzburg director. “The addition of Carl Craig’s and Lucy Raven’s commissions to our collection, as well as the acquisition of Dia 15 VI 13 545 West 22 Street Dream House in 2015, reiterates the ongoing commitment to contemporary artists working in the experimental, experiential mode at Dia’s core.”
To mark these releases, Dia will host a free, two-month-long listening space at Dia Chelsea, opening in January 2022. Visitors will be able to listen to the three new records as well as historical audio works from Dia’s archive.
La Monte Young: Trio for Strings (vinyl box set)
December 8, 2021
With essays by La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and Jung Hee Choi
This winter, Dia Art Foundation issues the official release of La Monte Young’s Trio for Strings (1958), a groundbreaking work of Minimalist music composed shortly after Young finished his studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Recorded live in Dia 15 VI 13 545 West 22 Street Dream House, one of Young, Marian Zazeela, and Jung Hee Choi’s legendary sound-and-light installations, at Dia Chelsea in 2015, this three-hour concert marked the world premiere of Trio for Strings Original Full Length Version, carefully reconstructed from the initial 1958 sketches and notes, and the American premiere of the Just Intonation Version. Featuring a cover designed by Choi with intricate calligraphy by Zazeela, the vinyl box set includes four LPs and a 32-page set of liner notes, with essays by Young, Zazeela, and Choi, as well as a detailed history of the composition. The box set will be accompanied by a full-length digital download.
Lucy Raven: Remix Ready Mix (digital and vinyl recordings)
Digital download available now
Vinyl LP available late summer 2022
Remix Ready Mix transforms the soundtrack to Lucy Raven’s engrossing film installation Ready Mix (2021), which was commissioned by Dia and premiered at Dia Chelsea in April 2021. As Raven describes it, “This record is a series of cuts: component extractions from the admixture of sounds that comprise the score of Ready Mix (2021).” Made in collaboration with Deantoni Parks, who composed the sound for the film, Remix Ready Mix merges field recordings from a concrete plant in central Idaho with orchestral and nonsynchronous sound. “Each moment in the original recording,” Parks explains, “is set to a transient that can be recalled in a new order or arrangement.” The limited-edition album will be hand numbered.
Carl Craig: Party/After-Party (two-LP vinyl set)
Winter 2021/2022
With an introduction by Kelly Kivland and essays by DeForrest Brown Jr., Randy Gibson, and Peter L’Official
Distributed by Planet E Communications
Dia commissioned acclaimed Detroit-based techno DJ and producer Carl Craig to create a sound installation in dialogue with the unique architecture of Dia Beacon. Party/After-Party (2020) marked Craig’s first commission for an art institution and the culmination of a five-year engagement with Dia.
Party/After-Party (2020) lives on beyond the sound installation at Dia Beacon in this set of two vinyl LPs. The album includes four tracks of studio versions of the artist’s commission and live recordings from Dia Beacon that highlight the acoustics of the exhibition space. The LPs are supplemented by a sixteen-page booklet of liner notes, with an introduction to the project by curator Kelly Kivland, a note on the work’s technical components and its unrepeatability by Randy Gibson, a consideration of the work in light of Black musical traditions and Detroit by DeForrest Brown Jr., and a reflection on the commission by Peter L’Official.
