The Chinati Foundation

The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati is a contemporary art museum located in Marfa, Texas and based upon the ideas of its founder, artist Donald Judd.The Chinati Foundation is located on 340 acres (1.4 km2) of land on the site of former Fort D. A. Russell in Marfa, Texas and some buildings in the town's center. Donald Judd first visited Marfa, Texas, in 1971, and moved himself from New York to Marfa as a full-time resident in 1977. Construction and installation at the site began in 1979 with initial assistance from the Dia Art Foundation in New York. The Chinati Foundation opened to the public in 1986 as an independent, non-profit, publicly funded institution. Chinati was originally conceived to exhibit the work of Donald Judd, John Chamberlain and Dan Flavin. However, the idea of the foundation developed further and its collection was enriched over years, and now the permanent collection has expanded to include Carl Andre, Ingólfur Arnarsson, Roni Horn, Ilya Kabakov, Richard Long, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, David Rabinowitch, and John Wesley. Each artist's work is installed in a separate building or outdoor area on the museum's grounds. In addition to the permanent collection, regular temporary exhibitions feature modern and contemporary art of diverse media. It was Judd’s goal at Chinati to bring art, architecture, and nature together in order to form a coherent whole. Marianne Stockebrand served as the foundation's director from 1994 until 2010. In 2011 Thomas Kellein assumed the role of director, and, in 2012, announced his resignation. In August 2013, Jenny Moore became the new executive director. In October 2013, the Foundation's newsletter announced that plans had been finalized for a new installation by Robert Irwin to join Chinati's permanent collection by the end of 2015. This installation will utilize Fort D. A. Russell's ruined former hospital, rebuilding the structure within its original footprint while incorporating several architectural interventions to modify the building's dynamics of light and space.