Dan Graham: Minimalism against Minimalism

A prominent and unconventional figure in contemporary art since the 1960s, Dan Graham has obsessively designed for the past thirty years architectural and urban models, notably “pavilions”—human-sized ­architectural-sculptural structures characterized by clean lines and mirror surfaces. In line with his theoretical writings as well as the ­performances and installations he produced at the beginning of his career, his mirror and glass pavilions, generally intended for public spaces, raise issues of self-perception and perception in one’s own ­surroundings. 

Following modernist architecture’s use of glass as found in major Western cities, Graham plays with transparent and mirror ­materials to confuse observer and observed, public and private space, inside and outside. Between art, architecture and design, these ­architectural-sculptural works, by their presence in public spaces, question the very functionality and ­sociability of the artwork. As a guest of the City of Paris, which launched a ­comprehensive program of urban and landscape development to mark the inauguration of its first tramway route around the capital, Graham created two structures: From Boullée to Eternity andMannerism/Rococo. The first one found a permanent location at the Porte-de-Versailles metro station, while the second was shown at the Marian Goodman Gallery in Paris last February. Making reference to two opposing ­architectural styles (neoclassicism and baroque), both projects reflect the complex approach of a provocative artist. Dan Graham’s work, playing with contradictions in an effort to systematically transgress established codes, draws its forms from minimalism while asserting itself as social art. In so doing and against elitism, it attempts to confuse and disrupt streets, gardens and museums.