Dia Beacon, which helped to kickstart the City of Beacon’s revitalization as an arts community even before opening in a former box factory in 2003, is one of the Hudson Valley’s artistic gems. And on the last Sunday of every month, its doors are open to Hudson Valley residents free of charge. (Additionally, City of Beacon and Newburgh residents receive free admission to Dia Beacon every day.)
Thanks to Dia trustee and President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts appointee Charlie Pohlad, residents of Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rensselaer, Rockland, Saratoga, Schenectady, Sullivan, Ulster, Washington, or Westchester counties can get the $20 general admission fee waived.
With nearly 300,000 square feet, Dia makes space for art at a scale that literally can’t happen in many places: Richard Serra, who died last month and was renowned for huge, site-specific sculptures around the world, has works on permanent display across five of the museum’s galleries. Dan Flavin’s monument 4 for those who have been killed in ambush (to P. K. who reminded me about death), a war protest piece that was created in 1966 and graced Max’s Kansas City for a while (as the museum’s notes point out, a lot of Dia artists frequented Max’s back in the day), has a home here along with more works by Flavin, whose medium of choice was light. Famed megalith creator Michael Heizer was commissioned by Dia to install his negative sculpture, North, East, South, West—probably the coolest holes in the ground in the region—as a permanent feature.
Big art is happening outside too. Sara Zewde, whose Studio Zewde was chosen in 2021 to re-envision what the Dia folks describe as a “vast, soggy” part of the grounds. After consulting with original landscape artist Robert Irwin before his death in October 2023 and immersing themselves in the lore of both Dia and Beacon, Studio Zewde will be converting over three acres of lawn to native meadowlands.
To reserve your free tickets for a visit to Dia Beacon, fill out this online form.
Related Stories
This article appears in April 2024.
