Diana Thater

True Life Adventures

Diana Thater has been a pioneering creator of film, video, and installation art since the early 1990s. Her work examines the temporal qualities of video and film through the topographical expansion into space, with site-specific installations that manipulate existing architectures through forced interaction with projected images and tinted light. Drawing on a wide variety of sources including ecology, the science of animal behavior, mathematics, and sociology, Thaters work mediates the relationship between nature and the designed environment, between the human and the animal.

True Life Adventures contains footage depicting the plight of wild animals in the Chyulu Hills near Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya, living in imminent danger of poaching. Though under threat from humans, the diverse range of animals depicted are shown living harmoniously amongst one another, creating a poignant meditation on the fragility of ecological balance under the influence of human-generated conditions.

Exhibitions of Thaters work include those at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; the Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao; and Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Houston among many others. Outside of her studio practice, Thater is a committed anti-captivity ecoactivist.

Diana Thater has been a pioneering creator of film, video, and installation art since the early 1990s. Her work examines the temporal qualities of video and film through the topographical expansion into space, with site-specific installations that manipulate existing architectures through forced interaction with projected images and tinted light. Drawing on a wide variety of sources including ecology, the science of animal behavior, mathematics, and sociology, Thaters work mediates the relationship between nature and the designed environment, between the human and the animal.

True Life Adventures contains footage depicting the plight of wild animals in the Chyulu Hills near Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya, living in imminent danger of poaching. Though under threat from humans, the diverse range of animals depicted are shown living harmoniously amongst one another, creating a poignant meditation on the fragility of ecological balance under the influence of human-generated conditions.

Exhibitions of Thaters work include those at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; the Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao; and Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Houston among many others. Outside of her studio practice, Thater is a committed anti-captivity ecoactivist.

Diana Thater has been a pioneering creator of film, video, and installation art since the early 1990s. Her work examines the temporal qualities of video and film through the topographical expansion into space, with site-specific installations that manipulate existing architectures through forced interaction with projected images and tinted light. Drawing on a wide variety of sources including ecology, the science of animal behavior, mathematics, and sociology, Thaters work mediates the relationship between nature and the designed environment, between the human and the animal.

True Life Adventures contains footage depicting the plight of wild animals in the Chyulu Hills near Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya, living in imminent danger of poaching. Though under threat from humans, the diverse range of animals depicted are shown living harmoniously amongst one another, creating a poignant meditation on the fragility of ecological balance under the influence of human-generated conditions.

Exhibitions of Thaters work include those at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; the Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao; and Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Houston among many others. Outside of her studio practice, Thater is a committed anti-captivity ecoactivist.

Diana Thater

Diana Thater

True Life Adventures

Exhibition

Exhibition

Materials & Dimensions

Materials & Dimensions

Video projection

Year

Year

2018

Site

Site

Colby Abbot Building

Credits

Credits

Pat Steir

Mirage III

Pat Steir

Mirage III

Pat Steir

Mirage III

Oscar Tuazon

Recycled River

Oscar Tuazon

Recycled River

Oscar Tuazon

Recycled River

Meg Webster

Glass Spiral

Meg Webster

Glass Spiral

Meg Webster

Glass Spiral

thank you

To our generous sponsors, partners, collaborators, and supporters who make our work possible.

presenting

Founding & Sustaining
Sponsors

* indicates both Founding and sustaining founding sponsor

Anonymous
Donna & Donald Baumgartner*
Black Box Fund
Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation
Susan & Mark Irgens*
Mellowes Family*
Sue & Bud Selig*
Julie & David Uihlein*

sculpture

Wayne & Lori Morgan

Visionary

George & Karen Oliver

Exhibition Partner

leader

Anonymous
Baird Center
Heil Family Foundation
Godfrey & Kahn

Collaborator

Betty Arndt
City of Milwaukee Arts Board
Kelli Gabel & Craig Karmazin
GRAEF
Guardian Fine Art Services
Hawks Landscaping
Mark Jungers
New Land Enterprises
Raymond & Barbara Krueger
ManpowerGroup
National Endowment for the Arts
Nonprofit Management Fund
Austin Ramirez
Syslogic Inc
Wisconsin Arts Board

Connector

BMO
Foley & Lardner
Imagine MKE
MajicPro
Milwaukee Magazine
Open Pantry
PNC Bank
PwC
Russ Darrow Group
Town Bank
US Bank
WeycoGroup
Woman's Club of Wisconsin Foundation

Sculpture Milwaukee is always free and open to the public thanks to our generous supporters.

We work with trusted community partners to ensure great contemporary art is accessible to all.

Sign up to receive news about our exhibitions and artworks, announcements, events and more

© 2025 Sculpture Milwaukee

thank you

To our generous sponsors, partners, collaborators, and supporters who make our work possible.

presenting

Founding & Sustaining
Sponsors

* indicates both Founding and sustaining founding sponsor

Anonymous
Donna & Donald Baumgartner*
Black Box Fund
Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation
Susan & Mark Irgens*
Mellowes Family*
Sue & Bud Selig*
Julie & David Uihlein*

sculpture

Wayne & Lori Morgan

Visionary

George & Karen Oliver

Exhibition Partner

leader

Anonymous
Baird Center
Heil Family Foundation
Godfrey & Kahn

Collaborator

Betty Arndt
City of Milwaukee Arts Board
Kelli Gabel & Craig Karmazin
GRAEF
Guardian Fine Art Services
Hawks Landscaping
Mark Jungers
New Land Enterprises
Raymond & Barbara Krueger
ManpowerGroup
National Endowment for the Arts
Nonprofit Management Fund
Austin Ramirez
Syslogic Inc
Wisconsin Arts Board

Connector

BMO
Foley & Lardner
Imagine MKE
MajicPro
Milwaukee Magazine
Open Pantry
PNC Bank
PwC
Russ Darrow Group
Town Bank
US Bank
WeycoGroup
Woman's Club of Wisconsin Foundation

Sculpture Milwaukee is always free and open to the public thanks to our generous supporters.

We work with trusted community partners to ensure great contemporary art is accessible to all.

Sign up to receive news about our exhibitions and artworks, announcements, events and more

© 2025 Sculpture Milwaukee

thank you

To our generous sponsors, partners, collaborators, and supporters who make our work possible.

presenting

Founding & Sustaining
Sponsors

* indicates both Founding and sustaining founding sponsor

Anonymous
Donna & Donald Baumgartner*
Black Box Fund
Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation
Susan & Mark Irgens*
Mellowes Family*
Sue & Bud Selig*
Julie & David Uihlein*

sculpture

Wayne & Lori Morgan

Visionary

George & Karen Oliver

Exhibition Partner

leader

Anonymous
Baird Center
Heil Family Foundation
Godfrey & Kahn

Collaborator

Betty Arndt
City of Milwaukee Arts Board
Kelli Gabel & Craig Karmazin
GRAEF
Guardian Fine Art Services
Hawks Landscaping
Mark Jungers
New Land Enterprises
Raymond & Barbara Krueger
ManpowerGroup
National Endowment for the Arts
Nonprofit Management Fund
Austin Ramirez
Syslogic Inc
Wisconsin Arts Board

Connector

BMO
Foley & Lardner
Imagine MKE
MajicPro
Milwaukee Magazine
Open Pantry
PNC Bank
PwC
Russ Darrow Group
Town Bank
US Bank
WeycoGroup
Woman's Club of Wisconsin Foundation

Sculpture Milwaukee is always free and open to the public thanks to our generous supporters.

We work with trusted community partners to ensure great contemporary art is accessible to all.

Sign up to receive news about our exhibitions and artworks, announcements, events and more

© 2025 Sculpture Milwaukee