A cheeky bit of chaos has descended on the Hamptons this summer, courtesy of the artist Liliana Porter.
There is no unifying size, context, or era among the curio.
Taking the whole thing in feels like watching a hundred tiny comedic plays all at once.
The artist Liliana Porter in her studio in Rhinebeck, New York.
And then as you get closer, there are these sub-narratives.
The scales are not consistent.
Thats one of the things Im interested in: things that dont belong together.
Liliana Porter,The Task(detail), 2024. Dia Art Foundation. © Liliana Porter.
These kinds of absurd chores are a theme in Porters ongoing Forced Labor series.
It seems impossible to fulfill, but at the same time, the person, they lookrelaxed.
They have faith that it will get done.
Liliana Porter,The Task(detail), 2024. Dia Art Foundation. Installation view, Dia Bridgehampton, New York, 2024–25. © Liliana Porter.
They are thinking, This is normal, says Porter.
I think thats what we all do in our life.
(Several other video works by Porter areplaying at Dia Chelseauntil July 20, 2024.)
Liliana Porter,The Task(detail), 2024. Dia Art Foundation. © Liliana Porter.
The Task,on view in Bridgehampton through May 2025, comes as Dia celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Three photographs of different geometric shapes from 1973 are mounted along one wall.
The line starts in 1973 and continues in 2024, Porter says.
Liliana Porter,Untitled (geometric group),1973. Installation view, Dia Bridgehampton, New York, 2024–25. © Liliana Porter.
Porter found her way to art at a young age.
Her parents were writers; following a creative path seemed inevitable.
It would have been more strange tonotbe an artist, she says.
Liliana Porter,The Task(detail), 2024. Dia Art Foundation. © Liliana Porter.
She was 17 when she had her first art show.
I had very good teachers, she says.
One in particular encouraged her to go to Europe to see the museums.
InThe Task(2024), a small woman sweeps a swirl of glittering pigment—a nod to Robert Smithson’sSpiral Jetty.
She had no art expectations of New York, she says.
Shes been here ever since.
You felt like you could do anything, she says.
In the late 1960s Porter experimented with mail art.
I like the idea of reversing time.
First the shadow, and then the object.
The year 1973, when she took the photos installed at Dia, was an important one for Porter.
Thats when you might see Liliana Porter really emerging, says Moro.
She was in a show at MoMA, curated by Howardena Pindell.
(Its a principle she brought to her 15 years as a professor at Queens College.
When I was teaching, I always insisted: Start with the idea.)
She embraced her version of minimalism.
I started to think, What can you say with the least elements, and what is your subject?
In Rhinebeck, Porter and Tiscornia share a studio, a two-story converted barn behind their house.
Porter has used these found trinkets in her assemblages and installations since the 1980s.
Many of the objects she feels called to are vintage, often from the 1950s and 60s.
Moro recalls one of Porters brilliant critiques of an icon gone wrong.
She told me, This is what time does to heroes.
At this retelling, Porter is back in stitches.
This is what Moro loves about her work.
The person that enjoys Liliana Porters work the most…is Liliana Porter, Moro says.
She is quick to second the notion.
Porter is in her 80s but maintains a childlike wonder.
Who I was when I was 10, I am still also that, she tells me.
Its less nostalgia, more about her embrace of nonlinear timethe way we all circle back to ourselves.
Porter has worked for many years in different mediums, with an endless number of collaborators.
Still: I think you always have the same idea, but in different formats, she says.
She tells a story from a time long ago, when she was married to her second husband.
She was then a stepmother to a nine-year-old boy, Frank.
We were painting, Porter remembers.
And I said, Fantastic, Frank!
And then he said, I dont understand, Lili.
You think and think, and then you always end up doing exactly the same thing.
Liliana Porter: The Task is on view at Dia Bridgehampton through May 26, 2025.
