PROJECTS

HOLLAND PARK

Kensington & Chelsea

DAN GRAHAM

Triangular Pavilion With Circular Cut-Out Variation H

Dan Graham (b. 1942) lives and works in New York . He is a highly influential figure in the field of contemporary art, both as a practitioner of conceptual art and as a well-versed art critic and theorist. His oeuvre spans over 40 years and he is considered the “guru” of artists' pavilions having interrogated the concept since the 1970s. Graham's work questions the relationship between people and architecture and the psychological effects it has on us. His work highlights the awkwardness that occurs when intimate moments or details are rudimentarily broadcast in an impersonal manner, as he continues to investigate the voyeuristic act of seeing onself reflected, whilst at the same time watching others. Graham described his pavilions as "producing a sense of uneasiness and psychological alienation through a constant play between feelings of inclusion and exclusion."

“Triangular Pavilion with Circular Cut-out Variation H” comprises an equilateral triangle with a circular central opening, allowing the visitor or "spectator" to enter and have an interior view. There are equal sized circles of glass centered in relation to the side of the triangle and to the central opening. The walls of the pavilion are a combination of transparent glass and two-way mirror, and ceiling is clear glass. The centre of the composition becomes an image of the spectators themeselves. Depending upon the overhead sky and sun conditions at a given moment, the half-transparent/half mirrored two-way mirror walls show the superimposition of the surrounding park, in relation to the spectators' view of their own reflection.

This work refers to Chinese garden pavilions which employed circular openings to frame a perspective of the next walled section of the garden. They were portals allowing access to the next enclosed section of the garden circuit. Strong overhead sunlight produced ellipsoid projections of both sunlight and shadows on the ground near the windows. The moon gate opening made it necessary for visitors to step into the garden over the curved bottom of the circular form and to move straight towards the centre of the composition.

The pavilion simultaneously evokes historical garden pavilions such as the rococo mirror pavilion that related the interior to the exterior, or 19th century gazebos, but it also makes reference to more contemporar structures such as urban bus shelters.

Further Information:

A short statement by Dan Graham [PDF 44KB]

For more information about the artist www.lissongallery.com

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