Diana Thater | Change Lab Podcast
For Diana Thater making art is like oxygen. It sustains and nourishes her. And when her access to it is suddenly limited –as it was in the spring of 2020–she figures out a way to create her art. By any means necessary.
Her latest exhibition, Yes, There Will Be Singing, is the captivating result of an extraordinary pandemic pivot. The ArtCenter alum and distinguished professor conceived the idea for the sound-based piece when her original in person show was canceled. But what’s most ingenious about this immersive work is not its format but rather its remarkable subject–Whale 52, who is deaf and yet sings into a world of complete darkness and silence.
It’s hard to imagine a more perfect metaphor for resilience in the face of the isolation we’ve all just experienced than Whale 52 and, more specifically, the sensitivity with which Thater represents his plight in her stunning sound, video and light piece (which can still be experienced here).