Lucy Raven's Concrete Film and Light Works Inaugurate Expanded Dia Chelsea

Lucy Raven's exhibition at Dia Chelsea features two new commissions, including the 45-minute film 'Ready Mix' shot at a concrete plant in central Idaho. The black-and-white drone footage depicts industrial processes like aggregate washing and mixing with smooth, abstracted cinematography. Raven's 'Casters' series presents mechanized, wall-mounted spotlights that swivel in a dark gallery. The show inaugurates Dia Chelsea's space following a two-year expansion project by Architecture Research Office. Dia's move to West Chelsea in 1987 helped transform the area from an industrial hub into an arts district. The foundation later opened Dia Beacon in a former upstate factory in 2003. Raven's work alludes to both the lost industrial character of West Chelsea and endangered Western American landscapes where Dia safeguards Land art. The film's title references both construction concrete and Marcel Duchamp's readymades, connecting to Land artists' treatment of the earth as material. Figures like Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, and Walter De Maria are cited for their colonialist approaches to altering Western landscapes. Concrete production is noted as responsible for approximately 8% of global CO2 emissions. The exhibition remains on view until January 2022.