I thought it would be intersting to explore the online presence for an art musuem that primarily exhibits physical works. Dia is a series of 11 art museums and sites located primary in New York and is known for exhibiting large-scale installations, land art and sculptures. Given the spatial nature of much of its collection, I assume it is particularly difficult to showcase their work online during the pandemic in a compelling way. They offer an accessible way to search their entire collection, which provides extensive metadata for each work(e.g., credit line, reference number, description) as well as an interactive map to search the works spatially.

I feel museum does a good job of providing prospective visitors with content and activities they could only access on their website. For instance, one unique section of their website showcases a series of music playlists curated by contemporary artists. I thought the inclusion of the late sculptor and land artist Robert Smithson’s favorite songs (which the museum curated based on the artist’s writings), was particularly interesting as it provides a novel way for visitors to remotely connect with a deceased artist in their collection. Dia also has a series of web-based projects they’ve commission over the years. However, I was quite surprised that they hadn’t commissioned any new works since the pandemic began. To me, this was a missed opportunity as it’s a compelling way of remotely curating and exhibiting new work responding to the pandemic.

Dia’s public programming is expansive and overall the museum seems very much in touch with and supporting their surrounding community. The museum offers free family-oriented, artist-run workshops and a frequent speaker series including artist panels/ talks, poetry readings, and tours. They’ve migrated much of these online during the pandemic. The also museum offers free admission once a month to Husdson Valley residents.

Overall Dia website contains a lot rich content and depth. However, much of it feels hidden and only accessible through some deep digging. Works in collection are displayed front and center on the homepage and personally make me very eager to schedule my next visit.