Dia Art Foundation will present a new exhibition, “Duane Linklater: 12 + 2,” at Dia Chelsea in New York from September 12, 2025, to January 24, 2026. The show features Duane Linklater and collaborators eagleswitheyesclosed, Gladstone Butler, Fjóla Evans, Miguel Gallego, Rahul Nair, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Sam Aros-Mitchell, Talia Dixon, Jonathan González, Mekko Harjo, Tasha Hubbard, and Layli Long Soldier. The commission includes sculpture, music, poetry, and dance.
“Duane Linklater brings a powerful and timely intervention into the architecture of Dia Chelsea,” said Jessica Morgan, Dia’s Nathalie de Gunzburg Director. “Engaging with land use, animal-human relations, scale, and Indigenous knowledge systems, his work challenges dominant historical narratives while also expanding on themes central to Dia’s history. It is a privilege to support Duane’s ambitious vision.”
The exhibition marks the culmination of five years of collaboration between Linklater and Dia Art Foundation. It is his first large-scale commission in the United States. Over the past decade, Linklater has worked across media to explore issues related to Indigenous resistance and sovereignty.
The installation uses a structure based on Omaskêko Cree cosmology—the number of poles needed for a teepee (12 + 2)—which shapes both the physical layout and thematic organization of the gallery space. Twelve earth discs are inlaid into the floor along with two boreholes; a teepee cover hangs from above. Seven buffalo sculptures up to 15 feet long are positioned throughout the space in different wallowing poses. These works address buffalo behaviors and their impact on North American ecosystems over time.
A circular wall sculpture made from clay, grass, and soil references buffalo presence on land; another vertical painting maps familial landmarks and historic buffalo territory.
A performance series forms part of the exhibition program. Jointly scored by eagleswitheyesclosed (Linklater’s musical project with his son Tobias) and choreographer Tanya Lukin Linklater, performances draw inspiration from buffalo movement as well as ideas about transmission within Indigenous cosmology. Performances occur every Saturday from September 13 through October 25 between 2–3 pm at Dia Chelsea.
“The buffalo emerges here as Linklater’s primary structure to articulate how else art can relate to land and, in turn, to think with buffalo and the enduring effects of its inhabitation of land. In consideration of the practices that Dia has historically supported, Duane Linklater: 12 + 2 produces frictions and poetic overlaps through collaborative formal intelligence both material and immaterial,” said Matilde Guidelli-Guidi, curator and co–department head.
An extended brochure accompanies the exhibition with contributions by artists involved in the project. Programming includes a lecture by Layli Long Soldier on November 8 as well as screenings of film work by Linklater alongside other artists later this fall.
Matilde Guidelli-Guidi curated “Duane Linklater: 12 + 2” with Liv Cuniberti assisting.
Major support for this project comes from several foundations including Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation; Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation; Dia’s Director’s Council; Molly Gochman & Michael Armilio; Salon Art + Design; Every Page Foundation; Susan & Larry Marx; Canadian Council for American Relations; Catriona Jeffries; Consulate General of Canada in New York; Cowles Charitable Trust; Virginia Cowles Schroth; Hal Jackman Foundation; kurimanzutto gallery; Lillian & Billy Mauer; Nancy McCain & Bill Morneau. All exhibitions at Dia are supported by Economou Exhibition Fund.
Duane Linklater is Omaskêko Ininiwak from Moose Cree First Nation (born in 1976). He holds degrees from University of Alberta (BA) and Bard College (MFA). His practice spans sculpture to moving image work focusing on museums’ relationships with Indigenous objects/peoples/materials. His previous projects include Wood Land School (2011– ), mid-career survey “mymothersside” at Frye Museum (Seattle), Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago/Berkeley Art Museum (2023–24), solo shows at Mercer Union (Toronto), Art Gallery of Hamilton (Ontario), Camden Art Centre (London), participation in Documenta Kassel (2012), Whitney Biennial (2022), Bienal de São Paulo (2023), Artists Space NY/San Francisco MoMA among others.
Dia Art Foundation was founded in 1974 to help artists realize ambitious projects outside traditional museum/gallery constraints (https://www.diaart.org/about). Its programming focuses on deep engagement with individual artists’ bodies of work—especially those who rose to prominence during the late twentieth century—and operates locations such as Dia Beacon (https://www.diaart.org/visit/visit-dia-beacon-ny), Bridgehampton (https://www.diaart.org/visit/visit-dia-bridgehampton-ny), Chelsea (https://www.diaart.org/visit/visit-dia-chelsea-new-york-united-states), as well as maintaining site-specific projects like Walter De Maria’s The Lightning Field (https://www.diaart.org/sites/main/the-lightning-field) or Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (https://diaart.org/sites/main/spiral-jetty-robert-smithson).
