Diana Thater
1962–
Since the early 1990s Diana Thater has been producing complex video installations— nonnarrative moving images in layered, room-sized projections and architectural interventions—that investigate the relationship of time and space to the subjective experience of viewing. Thater’s approach developed from an engagement with media theory, literature, science, art history, Hollywood cinema, and experimental filmmaking, all of which she studied at New York University and, later, at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where she received her MFA. She also has cited a deep interest in the notion of beauty as an underlying principle for much of her art making, as reflected in her use of video imagery drawn from the natural world—primarily plants, animals, and the solar system.
Six-Color Video Wall, for example, uses footage taken by NASA satellites of the sun at various stages of the day to deconstruct the basic six-color spectrum of video light; Thater presents both the original imagery photographed in red, blue, and green, as well as in its complementary color set of cyan, magenta, and yellow, which the artist generated in postproduction. The six cube monitors are displayed in a gallery flooded with mauve and deep blue light filtered from windows covered with colored theatrical gels, creating a volumetric and immersive environment. As Thater explained, “I wanted to make a vehicle for thinking about space. I want people to go into that . . . purple volume that I have made and experience a very complex relationship between their body and space.”
Introduction
Diana Thater (born May 14, 1962, in San Francisco) is an American artist, curator, writer, and educator. She has been a pioneering creator of film, video, and installation art since the early 1990s. She lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Wikidata identifier
Q514459
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed July 4, 2025.
Country of birth
United States
Roles
Artist, installation artist, photographer, video artist, writer
ULAN identifier
500114750
Names
Diana Thater
Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed July 4, 2025.
