Lawrence Weiner’s CADMIUM & MUD & TITANIUM & LEAD & FERROUS OXIDE & SO ON . . . (1991) has been permanently installed on the Back Facade of Dia:Beacon. The newly acquired work is visible from the back lawn of the building as well as from the Metro-North Railroad trains that pass by the museum. The piece will activate Dia:Beacon’s expansive back lawn, which has previously been inaccessible to visitors.
CADMIUM & MUD & TITANIUM & LEAD & FERROUS OXIDE & SO ON . . . was first displayed as part of Weiner’s solo exhibition, Displacement, at Dia Center for the Arts in New York City from April 1991 to April 1992. Continuing his exploration of artistic technique, the work lists a series of basic materials that have been central to aesthetic practice since the 1960s, including different kinds of metals (lead, titanium), pigments (cadmium, ferrous oxide), and even one of the materials of Land art (mud). Presented at Dia, this work will evoke the very substances enlisted by the Minimal, Postminimal, and Land artists represented in Dia’s collection. The acquisition of Weiner’s 1991 work strengthens the collection of historically important Conceptual art by providing greater context for the existing works at Dia:Beacon.
