Diana Thater (American, born )

Diana Thater (American, b.1962) is a pioneering video and installation artist. Through her work, Thater has addressed a variety of environmental and social topics, such as humanity’s relationship to nature. She was born in San Francisco, and went on to receive her BA in art history from New York University in 1984 and her MFA from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA in 1990. Since her first solo exhibition in 1991, Thater’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions worldwide, including the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane, the Natural History Museum in London, the Dia Center for the Arts in New York, and the Kunsthaus Graz in Austria. In 2015, the Los Angeles County Museum mounted a major retrospective of her work titled The Sympathetic Imagination. Her work can be found in the museum collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and Castello di Rivoli in Turin, among others.

Thater is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists in 2014, a James D. Phelan Award in Film and Video in 2006, and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005. In addition to her artistic practice, Thater is noted writer and educator, and has also pursued curation. She lives and works in Los Angeles.

Timeline

1962
born in San Francisco, CA
1984
received BA Art History, New York University, New York NY
1990
received MFA, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena CA
1991
recipient of Artists at Giverny Program, Artist-in-Residence at the Claude Monet Foundation, Lila AchesonWallace Reader’s Digest Foundation, Giverny, France
1993
recipient of Other Genres Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C
1995
recipient of Project Grant, Etant Donnés: The French-American Fund for Contemporary Art, New York
recpient of Beyond the Borders: Gwangju Biennale prize, Gwangju, South Korea
1998
participated in The International Artist-in-Residence Program, Artpace, San Antonio, Texas
2005
recipient of Fellowship Award, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York
2006
recipient of James D. Phelan Art Award in Film and Video, The San Francisco Foundation
2011
recipient of 2011 Award for Artistic Innovation, Center for Cultural Innovation, Los Angeles
2014
recipient of California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists, Los Angeles
2018
recipient of Art + Technology Lab Grant, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
lives and works in Los Angeles
Artist-in-Residence for SaveTaijiDolphins.com, Earth Island Institute, San Francisco since 1999

Exhibitions

2019
Diana Thater Selected Exhibitions in 2019:
PHOTO, Parkett Space Zurich, Zurich
2017–2019
Diana Thater Selected Exhibitions in 2017-2019:
Diana Thater: A Runaway World, The Mistake Room, Los Angeles [itinerary: Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul; Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain]
2018
Diana Thater Selected Exhibitions in 2018:
Diana Thater, The Watershed, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (solo exhibition)
Art on theMART, Chicago Riverwalk, Chicago
Before Projection: Video Sculpture 1974-1995, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts [itinerary: SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York]
David Zwirner: 25 Years, David Zwirner, New York
Natural Wonders: The Sublime in Contemporary Art, Brandywine River Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
A TIME CAPSULE REVISITED: A New Installation of Works Made by Women for Parkett (1984- 2017), New Temporary Parkett Space, Zurich
2017
Diana Thater Selected Exhibitions in 2017:
Diana Thater: A Runaway World, The Mistake Room, Los Angeles [itinerary: Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul; Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain] (solo exhibition)
Diana Thater: The Starry Messenger, Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Houston, Texas (solo exhibition)
14th Biennale de Lyon: Floating Worlds, Lyon
Artists of Color, The Underground Museum, Los Angeles [organized in collaboration with The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles]
The Basilisk, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles
The Garden - End of Times; Beginning of Times, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark
INCITE, SPACE, Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio, Texas
Medienkunst von Nam June Paik bis Pipilotti Rist/Media Art from Nam June Paik to Pipilotti Rist, Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany
2016
Diana Thater Selected Exhibitions in 2016:
Diana Thater, 1301PE, Los Angeles (solo exhibition)
Indestructible Wonder, San Jose Museum of Art, California
On Space and Place: Contemporary Art from Chicago, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Vancouver, Depaul Art Museum, Chicago [organized in collaboration with ART21]
The Sun Placed in the Abyss, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio
2015
Diana Thater Selected Exhibitions in 2015:
Beta Space: Diana Thater, San Jose Museum of Art, California (solo exhibition)
Diana Thater: gorillagorillagorilla, Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (solo exhibition)
Diana Thater: Life is a Timed-Based Medium, Hauser & Wirth, London (solo exhibition)
Diana Thater: Science, Fiction, David Zwirner, New York (solo exhibition)
Diana Thater: The Starry Messenger, Galerie Éric Hussenot, Paris (solo exhibition)
Diana Thater: The Sympathetic Imagination, Los Angeles County Museum of Art [itinerary: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago] (solo exhibition)
Come As You Are: Art of the 1990s, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey [itinerary: Telfair Museums, Savannah, Georgia; University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin]
Ladies’ Knight: The Female Perspective on Chess, World Chess Hall of Fame, St. Louis, Missouri
the slow burn, Ditch Projects, Springfield, Oregon
Vita Vitale, The Azerbaijan Pavilion, Venice [part of the 56th Venice Biennale: All the World’s Futures]
2014
Diana Thater Selected Exhibitions in 2014:
Diana Thater: Delphine, Saint-Philibert, Dijon [organized by Fonds régional d’art contemporain Bourgogne, Dijon] (solo exhibition)
Cinema & Painting, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand
(De-) Construction: Fiction & Reality, PinchukArtCentre, Kiev, Ukraine
Here Today…Marking 50 years of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, The Old Sorting Office, London [organized by Artwise]
On the Blue Shore of Silence, Tracy Williams, Ltd., New York
Out of Sight: New Acquisitions, Vancouver Art Gallery
Variations: Conversations in and Around Abstract Painting, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
2006
Idylle, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg, Germany
2006
Projections, Beyond Cinematic Space, Nationalgalerie imHamburger Bahnhof Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2006
Ballerina in a Whirlpool: Works by Isa Genzken, Richard Jackson, Roman Signer and Diana Thater from the Hauser & Wirth Collection, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden Baden, Germany
2006
Ectopia: The Second ICP Triennial of Photography and Video, International Center of Photography, New York, New York, USA
2006
Four Thursday Nights: Group Dynamics, Aspen Art Muesum, Aspen Colorado, USA
2006
Whitney Biennial 2006 Biennial Exhibition: Day for Night, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, USA
2005
Haunch of Venision, 'Perpetual Motion Perfect Devotion', London/UK (solo)
2005
Zwirner & Wirth, 'Diana Thater: New Work', New York NY (solo)
2005
David Zwirner, 'Continuous Contiguous', New York NY (solo)
2005
1301PE, 'Pink Daisies, Amber Room', Los Angeles CA (solo)
2005
Centro Cultural Conde Duque, 'Fast Forward, Media Art/Sammlung Goetz', Madrid/E
2004
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 'Nature ganz Kunst', Hamburg/D
2004
The Contemporary Jewish Museum, '100 Artists See God', San Francisco CA. Traveled to Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach CA; Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virgina VA
2004
MuHKA, 'Not Done', Antwerp/B
2004
Haunch of Venison, 'ANIMALS', London/GB
2004
Museum der Moderne, 'einleuchten', Salzburg/A
2004
Orange County Museum of Art, 'Hypermedia', Newport Harbor CA
2004
Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 'Friedrich Christian Flick Collection im Hamburger Bahnhof', Berlin/D
2004
Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, 'Keep the Faith. A Survey Exhibition', Siegen/D (travelled to Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen/D) (solo)
2004
1301PE, 'White is the Color', Los Angeles CA (solo)
2003
Haunch of Venison. 'Transcendence is expansion and contraction at the same time', London/GB (solo)
2003
San Diego Museum of Art, 'Of Earth and Sky: Elements in Abstraction', San Diego CA
2003
Museum of Contemporary Art MoCA, 'SITINGS: Installation Art 1969-2002', cur. Paul Shimmel, Los Angeles CA
2003
ZKM Museum für Neue Kunst, 'Fast Forward: Media Art Sammlung Goetz', Karlsruhe/D
2003
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 'Moving Pictures: Contemporary Photography and Video from the Guggenheim Museum Collections', Bibao/ES
2002
Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg, 'Vidéo topiques. Tours et Retours de L'Art Vidéo', Strasbourg/F
2002
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, 'Das Tier in mir. Die Mensch-Tier-Verwandtschaft in der zeitgenössischen Kunst', Baden-Baden/D
2002
Galerie Hauser & Wirth, 'Ten Years Galerie Hauser & Wirth', Zurich/CH
2002
San José Museum of Art, 'Parallels and Intersections: Art/Women/California, 1950-2000', San Jose CA
2002
Kunsthalle Basel, 'Keine Kleinigkeit', Basel/CH
2002
Fondation Beyeler, 'Monet und der digitale Impressionismus', Basel/CH
2002
Nicolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Center, 'Making Nature', Copenhagen/DK. Traveled to Österreichsche Galerie Belvedere, Vienna/A
2002
Galleria Emi Fontana, 'Bastard Pink', Milan/I (solo)
2002
Galerie Ghislaine Hussenot, 'Diana Thater', Paris/F (solo)
2001
DIA Center for the Arts, 'Knots + Surfaces', New York NY (solo)
2001
David Zwirner, 'The sky is unfolding under you', New York NY (solo)
2001
1301 PE, 'The sky is unfolding under you', Los Angeles CA (solo)
2001
J. Paul Getty Museum, 'Devices of Wonder: From the World in a box to images on a screen', Los Angeles CA
2001
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, 'Enclosed and Enchanted', Preston/GB. Traveled to Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield/GB
2001
UCLA Hammer Museum, 'Making Time: Considering Time as a Material in Contemporary Video and Film', Los Angeles CA
2001
National Gallery of Canada, 'Elusive Paradise', Ottawa/CDN
2001
Whitney Museum of American Art, 'Bitstreams', New York NY
2000
Vienna Secession, 'Delphine', Vienna/A (solo)
2000
Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, 'Broken Circle', Siegen/D (solo)
2000
1301 PE, 'Diana Thater', Los Angeles CA (solo)
2000
Galerie Hauser & Wirth, 'Delphine', Zurich/CH (solo)
2000
Galleria Emi Fontana, ‘The Caucus Race‘, Milan/I (solo)
2000
Galerie Ghislaine Hussenot, 'Diana Thater', Paris/F (solo)
2000
Tensta Kontshall , 'Diana Thater', Spain/S (solo)
1999
The St. Louis Art Museum, 'The best outside is the inside', St. Louis MO (solo)
1999
Art Gallery of York University, 'The best sense is the non-sense', Toronto/CDN (solo)
1999
Carnegie Museum of Art, 'The best space is the deep space', Pittsburgh PA (solo)
1999
H&R Projects, 'Diana Thater', Brussels/B (solo)

Public Collections

The Art Institute of Chicago
Artpace, San Antonio, Texas
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California
The Broad, Los Angeles
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin
CU Art Museum, University of Colorado, Boulder
Fonds Régional Art Contemporain - Rhône-Alpes, Institute d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne, France
Friedrich Christian Flick Collection, Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg, France
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California
Portland Art Museum, Oregon
Sammlung Falckenberg, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
Sammlung Hauser & Wirth, Henau, Switzerland
Sammlung Goetz, Munich
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Tate Gallery, London
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21), Vienna
Vancouver Art Gallery
Vanmoerkerke Collection, Ostend, Belgium
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Performances

The future that almost wasn’t, a collaboration with T. Kelly Mason, Artpace San Antonio, Texas; Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel/Marstall, Munich; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
Virtuosic Siblings: Berlin - LA Festival of Film/Art, Villa Aurora, Los Angeles [itinerary: Goethe Institut Los Angeles,; REDCAT Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, Los Angeles]
JUMP, a collaboration with T. Kelly Mason, Tate Modern, London; Creative Artists Agency, Los Angeles; Whitney Biennial 2006, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Aspen Art Museum, Colorado; David Zwirner, New York
English (US)

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