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At the heart of Thater’s work is the tension between the natural environment and mediated reality and, by extension, between the domesticated and wild, the scientific and the fantastical or magical. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, including literature, animal behavior, mathematics, chess, and sociology, her evocative layered imagery engages its architectural surroundings to create complex relationships between time and space. A hallmark of Thater’s groundbreaking installations, this nuanced wedding of projected imagery to architectural site literally immerses viewers in her works. Experiencing these installations kinetically, viscerally, and psychically rather than be merely observing passively from a distance, visitors enter into an active dialogue with work that is consistently challenging, disciplined, and intellectually rigorous.
Over the past decade, Diana Thater’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at prominent institutions that include the LUMA, Arles (2025); LUMA Westbau, Zurich (2025); Institute of Contemporary Art Watershed, Boston, Massachusetts (2018); Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (2015); San Jose Museum of Art, California (2015); Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2011); Santa Monica Museum of Art, California (2010); Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (2009); Natural History Museum, London (2009); Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany (2004); Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, Germany (2004); Dia Center for the Arts, New York (2001); Secession, Vienna (2000); The Museum of Modern, New York (1997); and The Renaissance Society, Chicago (1995). In 2017, the solo show A Runaway World was first exhibited at The Mistake Room, Los Angeles and later traveled to Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul and the Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain. In 2015, a comprehensive mid-career survey of Thater’s work, The Sympathetic Imagination, was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and later traveled to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
Work by the artist is represented in museum collections worldwide, including the LUMA Foundation, Arles; Art Institute of Chicago; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Friedrich Christian Flick Collection im Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; San Jose Art Museum, San Jose; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Diana Thater has shown with 1301PE since 1993.
Diana Thater
Diana Thater: The Sympathetic Imagination offers a mid-career retrospective of the work of Diana Thater, one of the most important and innovative artists working today. This book was produced in conjunction with the exhibition at LACMA from November 22, 2015 to April 17, 2016. Contributions from Giuliana Bruno, Lynne Cooke, Michael Govan, Christine Y. Kim, Lisa Gabrielle Mark, Patti Podesta, Jason E. Smith and Diana Thater.
Also included are an interview with the artist and essays on a wide range of topics that Thater addresses in her work—from the history and politics of the Chernobyl disaster to beauty and Baroque architecture. This publication also gives readers exclusive access to a moving image supplement, featuring a film conceived and created by Thater in collaboration with production designer Patti Podesta, as well as an illustrated checklist with short video clips.
ISBN 978-3791354736
Hardcover, 224 pages, 152 color illustrations
Between Science and Magic beautifully weaves together Diana Thater's new film work, the evolution of the classic illusion to "pull a rabbit out of a hat" and cinematic history from George Melies to Hollis Frampton.
Elsa Longhauser's forward sets the stage for Diana Thater and Pernilla Holmes' enlightened discussion in 'These Tricks Are Not Easy'. Thater and Holmes' expansive conversation on the elusion of making art, cinema and magic creates a rich understanding of the artists practice.
Helen Varola's essay 'Rabbit As If In a Hat' examines the origin of "pulling a rabbit out of a hat" and it cultural meaning today.
The color illustrations through out chronicle Diana Thater's making of Between Science and Magic from the original shot with magician Greg Wilson and Josephine to the stunning French rococo movie palace of Los Angeles Theatre and finally the presentation of Between Science and Magic at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and David Zwirner.
Hardcover with reversible dust jacket
56 pages 12 color illustrations
The catalogue gorillagorillagorilla was published in conjunction with Diana Thater's exhibition at Kunsthaus Graz and includes an introductory text by Peter Pakesch and essays by Adam Budak, Bergit Arends, Frans B. M. de Waal, Laurence A. Rickels, Giorgio Agamben and Jason Smith. The catalogue's image part comprises both installation shots from the Kunsthaus Graz and a photographic essay by Diana Thater with an index "These Are Their Names" and a visual material taken during the filming of gorillagorillagorilla in Cameroon.
Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: Walther Konig; Bilingual edition (August 31, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3865605907
ISBN-13: 978-3865605900
Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds