On Friday, November 6, 2009, The Dia Art Foundation celebrated its 35th anniversary and its commitment to initiating, supporting, presenting, and preserving extraordinary art projects at its 2009 Fall Gala.

Guests enjoyed cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on The Hispanic Society’s Audubon Terrace, and dinner followed at The Church of the Intercession. During dinner guests were treated to an original performance by pioneering musician and producer Arto Lindsay titled ATLANTIC/DESERT/TROPICAL, after Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s chronotopes & dioramas.

In addition to the event co-chairs Dia trustee Frances Bowes and actor James Franco, those in attendance included Dia chairman Nathalie de Gunzburg and her husband Charles de Gunzburg, and Dia director Philippe Vergne. Dia trustees and patrons in attendance were Sandra Brant and Ingrid Sischy, Christopher Bass, Constance Caplan, Janelle and Alden Pinnell, Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, and Charlie Wright.

Philanthropists and art supporters included Proenza Schouler’s Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough, Antony and the Johnsons’ Antony Hegarty, designers Kate and Andy Spade, Art Production Fund’s Yvonne Force Villareal, actress Barbara Sukowa, architect John Pawson, Renee and Mark Rockefeller, Stephanie and Jody La Nasa, Liz and Kirk Radke, Dorothy Berwin, Jill and Peter Kraus, and Diana and Jonathan Ross. They were joined by GUCCI’s Daniella Vitale, Opening Ceremony’s Humberto Leon, designer Han Feng, Richard Pandiscio and Todd Eberle, Ann Dexter-Jones, Jacqueline Sackler, Jennifer Creel, Julie Minskoff, Liz Swig, Peter Hempel, Black Frame’s Brian Phillips, and Vincent Katz.

Art world notables included MoMA’s associate director Kathy Halbreich and associate curator Doryun Chong, New Museum’s Eungie Joo, Sotheby’s Lisa Dennison, Art Basel Director Mark Spiegler, Tate director Sir Nickolas Serota, Studio Museum executive director Thelma Golden, and New York City Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Kate Levin. Many gallery owners were also present, among them Paula Cooper, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, David Zwirner, Barbara Gladstone, Carol Greene, Iwan Wirth, Andrew Kreps, Gordon Veneklasen, Arne Glimcher, Marc Glimcher, and Anton Kern. Many artists were at the Gala, among them Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, Gerhard Richter, Francesco Clemente, Kara Walker, Matthew Barney, Mike Kelley, Glenn Ligon, Lawrence Weiner, Arto Lindsay, Robert Ryman, Tony Feher, Moyra Davey, Mark di Suvero, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Joan Jonas, and Zoe Leonard.

Additional artists included Robert Longo, Vera Lutter, Gedi Sibony, George Trakas, Robert Whitman, T.J. Wilcox, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, Sara Vanderbeek, Kai Altoff, David Benjamin Sherry, Mika Rottenberg, Eric Baudelaire, Kalup Linzy, and Hope Atherton.

Dia was also pleased to announce plans to open a new space in Chelsea for its New York City program. Dia presents public programs and its permanent collection of works from the 1960s through the present at Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries, in New York’s Hudson Valley, and maintains long-term, site-specific installations in the western United States, New York City, and Long Island. Since 2007 Dia has presented commissions by contemporary artists at the Hispanic Society. For the third installation in the series Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s created a new project, chronotopes & dioramas, which represents her first solo exhibition in the United States.