The Dia Art Foundation has expanded its institutional engagement with Latin America through concurrent curatorial initiatives in New York and Buenos Aires, pairing a major retrospective of Argentine artist David Lamelas with simultaneous collection exhibitions across South America.
David Lamelas Leads Conceptual Revision at Dia Chelsea
At Dia Chelsea in New York, the institution opened David Lamelas: The Machine, a comprehensive survey spanning six decades of the artist’s production. Curated by Humberto Moro and Ella den Elzen, the exhibition runs through 2026–27 as the artist’s first major individual presentation in New York.
CARDANO FOUNDATION LAUNCHES BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPMENT LAB IN LATIN AMERICAThe Cardano Foundation (@Cardano_CF) is officially partnering with the University of Brasília (@unb_oficial) to establish the first Cardano Project Development Lab in Latin America. This strategic… pic.twitter.com/ZQzUvD3Zmo
Lamelas developed his early practice within Buenos Aires’ experimental circle at the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella during the 1960s before living and working in London, Paris, and Los Angeles. In an interview with Artishock, Moro emphasized that Lamelas challenges how media affects content and shapes public engagement with information.
Buenos Aires Exhibitions Test Institutional Reach
While Lamelas’s survey anchors New York programming, Fundación Proa and MALBA in Buenos Aires hosted exhibitions drawing directly from Dia’s permanent collection in 2026. Fundación Proa presented Penumbra: Dia Art Foundation, curated by Moro and Ella den Elzen, featuring works by Agnes Martin, Andy Warhol, Félix González-Torres, James Turrell, John Chamberlain, Richard Serra, Robert Irwin, Tehching Hsieh, and Walter De Maria. The exhibition examined the threshold of shadow and perceptual uncertainty.
Concurrently, MALBA staged Dan Flavin. Luz, color y espacio, curated by Jessica Morgan and Min Sun Jeon. The display paired early and historical fluorescent light sculptures by Flavin, including an homage dedicated to Dia founder Heiner Friedrich. These presentations build upon historical ties between the New York foundation and Buenos Aires institutions that began with a Dan Flavin exhibition at Fundación Proa in 1998, followed by Sol LeWitt wall drawings between 2001 and 2002.
Programming Shifts Under Humberto Moro
Director Jessica Morgan outlined an objective to broaden the institution’s 1960s and 1970s historical narrative to include diverse geopolitical, gender, and racial perspectives. In 2023, Dia formalized this direction through a multi-year partnership with ISLAA.
This alliance facilitated subsequent solo presentations, including Colombian artist Delcy Morelos’s installation in 2023, a retrospective of Cuban-born Félix González-Torres at Dia Beacon from April 2024 to June 2025, and a dedicated exhibition for Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica during the 2025–26 season. Additionally, Mexican artist Alan Ruiz realized a site-specific commission titled De sol a sol at Dia Bridgehampton, opening on June 26, 2026, to engage with the architecture and sociopolitical landscape of Long Island’s East End.
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