Research Paper On Dan Graham

The practice of writing-whether it was to contextualize their own work, or that of their peers through analytical and critical writing-became an increasingly common practice among artists during the 1960’s. This was perhaps a consequence of the sudden increase in accessibility of university education and graduate degrees in fine arts in the mid 20th century. One such writer-artist was Dan Graham, who consistently published various written works related to his artistic production over more than four decades, tracing his journey through curation, performance, photography, video, installation and architecture. Graham’s work is based within conceptual art, an example of this being his ‘Schema’ (1966), which was a work he staged entirely …show more content…
He described this work in one of his essays-Performer/Mirror/Audience-featured in his collection of essays-‘Two-Way Mirror Power’. The essay includes a description of the entire performance in stages as well as a scripted account of the performance and notes of his observations from the performance, that reveal his idea behind the work-which was to give the audience a power within the performance equivalent to that of the performer by exposing the audience’s gestures and movements, making them as visible as the performer’s. In the case of Performer/Mirror/Audience, Graham used his writing (the essay- Performer/Mirror/Audience) to describe his observations from his artistic production (his first performance of the piece); the performance in 1977 was followed by a second and third performance in 1979. The essay however wasn’t published until 1982, thereby ensuring that it wouldn’t affect the audience’s …show more content…
This essay was also published in his collection of essays-‘Two-Way Mirror Power’. The essay was in a way, a reflection on his experience as a performance artist. What stood out in the essay was his comment on ‘alternative spaces’, which was an aspect of performance art that he carried over into his practice as a sculptural architect. In the text, he mentioned that the spaces characteristically used for performance art were an alternative to establishments such as galleries or museums, created by artists. He wrote about his time as a visiting artist at an art school in Canada and revealed that he appreciated the fact that young artists who did not have access to art galleries could show their work to other artists in the community, in this ‘alternative space’ that they had developed. He claims performances were also “fun-done in situations not unlike informal rock concerts”. Graham evidently brought out this playful or ‘fun’ aspect in his pavilion structures, for example in his Skateboard Pavilion (1989), Children’s Pavilion (1988–93), Heart Pavillion (1991) or the Funhouse for the Children of Saint-Janslein(1997–99), all of which reflect a sort of playfulness in that they interact with their environment and their audience; and aren’t confined within the white walls of a gallery or museum space. As he mentioned