Graham, Dan - Three Projects.pdf

8/13/2019 Graham, Dan - Three Projects.pdf

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Th e Publisher wishes to ~ l ( I k n n u I l p t 1 o p with Oyhtl1fip the generoussupport of the Lannan Foundation

Th e Publisher also h l ~ ~ l L rlrnr'ndprl,rrPC the contributionprovided by t he r t Book Endowment of the ssociatesof theInlHP1'cltH of California Press which Cl -..ft,',yt ,,r by a

from the hmanson Foundation

niversity alifornia r ssB er ke le y Los n ge le s London


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tJalntlng tocon-

of my

support of the canvas,1: 1. Lived space is to

space.

would tooerce:otluai on:)tJterns. The space is not the

prelCt HreHl, size, and orientation.to the HH::aIllng

to the tilne and

the space itself into the rtuT drNor is my concern withthe is not its

and attack rather thanwall have no back. the , ) v c ~ n - H

lusion is divorced from r e l J n : ~ s e n t ; l t l J n . The scale isa direct confrontation with

DAN GRAHAMThree for Architecture and Video / Notes (1977)

THE GLASS DIVIDER LIGHT AND SOCIAL DIVISIONWindow glass alienates subject from object. From behind the specta-

tor s view is objective, while the observed s subject(ivity) is concealed; the observer onthe outside of the glass cannot be part of an interior group s inter-subjective fiamework.Being itself a minor-reflective material glass reflects the of an observer looking as well as the particular inside or outside world behind him onto the of the spaceinto which he is looking. Abstractly, this reflectiveness of glass allows it to be a signi ring at the same time, the nature of the opposit ion between the two spaces and their common mediation. The glass in the window through its unites, andby this physical impenetrability separates, inside and outside. Due to its reflective qualities,illuminating, within or without the space that the glass divides produces either complex reflections, non-reflective transparency, or opacity. Light signifies various distinct spatial or temporallocations. Artificial light is often placed in contrast to natural illumination (definingindoors and outdoors). The pattern of illumination phases with, and marks natural andcultural activities taking place on either side of the glass partition. Illumination is a controllerof social behavior. Both glass and light (separately or conjointly) enforce social divisions.

GLASS USED IN SHOP WINDOWS COA MODITIES IN SHOP WINDOWS

.The glass used for the show-case displaying products isolates the consumer fromthe product at the same time as it superimposes the mirror-reflection of his own imageonto the goods displayed. This alienation, paradoxically, helps arouse the desire to possess

Dan Graham, Three Projects for Architecture and Video / Notes, r cks 3, no. 3 (Fall 1977): 52-61.

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ONEPAVILIONS LOCATED IN NINTERNATIONAL RT EXHI BITWITH A A ND A NO NY M OU SPUBLIC IN ATTENDANCE.

CAN ENTERTHE WORK THROUGH

TWO

E AC H A UD IE NC ETHE OHlER AUDIENCE SV IS UA L B EH AV IO R SUTIS ISOLATED FROM THEIRAURAL BEHAVIOR.AUDIENCE IS MADE MOREAWARE OF ITS OWNVER BAL C OMMU NI C AT I ON S.IT IS ASSUMED THAT

A T IMEWILL DEYELOP

S O CI A L C OH E SI O N NGROUP iDENTITY.

n Graha Public Two Audiences, 1976.

the commodity. The goods are often displayed as part of a human mannequin-an idealized image of the consumer. Glass isolates (draws attention to) the product s surface appeal,glamour, or superficial appearance alone (attributes of workmanship which link crafts-man to specific product being lost) while access to what is tangible or immediatelyuseful. It idealizes the product. Historically this in the appearance of the productcorresponds to the workers alienation from the products they produce; to be utilized theproduct must be brought on the market in exchange for wages at a market value with theconditions of its production obscured. Glass is helpful in socially alienating buyer from producer, thereby concealing the product s connection to another s real labor and allowing itto acquire exchange value over and above use value.

In a so rt of way it is the same with Man as with commodities man sees himself reflectedin other man. Peter only establishes his identity as a man by first comparing himself withPaul as being of the same kind, and thereby Paul, i n hide and hair, Paul in his Paulinecorporality, beC 1TleS entirely to Peter the phenomenal form of the genus Man.Capitalistic society makes all personal relations between men take the form of objectiverelations between things Social relations are transformed into qualities of thingsthenlselves {commodities}.Under capitalism, just as the projected ego is confused with the body image in the mir

ror, so that ego is confused with the commodity. The individual is made to identify him-

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the comrnooltv

the customer is at an idealflections that he deviates from the ideal re preS :;nl:ed

of attributes of this ideal if hereflects his desire for a more better self identified with the lt r \: ?o In-, - ~ J < : U d L J 1 L - f rom the the consumer desires is the illusion that them will com-

that which is in himself. This desire is never satisfled marketsystem must continue to but because the consumer identifies himself with (hisprojection into) the he infuses the with a value whichnow becomes part of its market value.

The video is located in a modern arcade. It utilizes two of the wm-dow showcases which display their standard goods andwhich are each other. Eachshowcase has a mirror flxed to the back wall, parallel to the window. lookingthrough the window can see all of the following: the images of the showcase s merchandise reflected in the mirror, and at the same time they see the of the other side ofthe arcade with the merchandise in the opposite showcase; they see the reflections of theoutside of the window surface, and the mirror s reflection of those on the insideas well as those on the exterior surface of the opposite window; and they see the othershoppers who look into these windows or who pass through the arcade between them.

Both shop windows have television monitors located front and center at eye level. Onemonitor (on the right in faces the window, and the other faces the mirror. Eachmonitor has a video camera resting upon its top surface. The camera lens on the facesthe mirror; and the camera lens on the left faces the window.

The view from the camera on the r ight is transmitted live to the monitor on thebut the view from the left camera is transmitted 5 seconds delayed to the right monitor.

PUBLIC SP CE / TWO UDIENCESPUBLIC SPACE / TWO AUDIENCES was placed as one of a number of individual

room-environments within the thematic exhibition, AMBIENTE (organized by GermanoCelant for the Venice Biennale, 1976). The Venice Biennale collective is a showcase formodern art; each of the rooms of AMBIENTE functioned as showcases for individual artists,one competing with the other in the display of characteristic productions of individual artists.At the same time the totality of rooms presumed to represent a larger, socially unityingtheme: T he Environment. One of the intentions of PUBLIC SPACE / TWO AUDIENCESwas that the spectators, instead of contemplating art objects within the room-environn lent(the architectural enclosure) be themselves displayed by the container.

Psychologically, the glass divider is a visual window objectitying the other audience (theobserved audience appears, by analogy, to be a mirror of the outward behavior of theaudience observing them): while the mirror at the end of one space shows the observingaudience themselves as a social unity- in the process of looking at the other audience. A

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similar situation, in reverse, for the other audience. both audiences lookof their social situations

The spectators of one audience are led to view the otherwhile their seems to be insulated from that of the other audience.Normally neither observer nor observed on sides of can be part of theother frame. But while thea distance between spectators, the co-presence on the mirror of the two au-

bodies and visual of their process of 10 Klnrrcoml)lexlty of this relation of spectators to their and to the

of the Other IS a of echoed in the relation of the ma-terial of mirror and Because as a material is itself , - Y ) 1 r , , . _ , ( C j 4 P / ~ r n l Pobservers in the room distant from the mirror, looking in the direction of the mirror rhl nl I rhthe divider, see a double reflection of their first in the andin size bu t more distinct, in th e mirror. From within the other room the anobserver looking towards the glass and at the other opposite white wall, will see partially reflected on the glass s surface a projection of the space of his room (and also of theother room seen behind it this image being reflected from the mirror s surface to illusionistically fill i n the blank wall surface behind the glass).

II PUBLIC SPACE TWO AUDIENCES

Because of the placing of the mirror at only one end of the space, the two audiences perceptual situations differ; this affects the relative behavior patterns of these twogroups. The behavior of one does not mirror that of the other (although to a group onone side the opposite group will still appear to them as a mirror of their own situation).

The spectator is made socially and psychologically more self-conscious the observerbecomes conscious of himself as embodied as a perceiving subject (and of hirnself in relation to his group). This is the inverse of the usual loss of self when a spectator looks atthe conventional art work. There, the self is mentally projected into (identified with) thesubject of t he art work. this traditional contemplative mode the observing subject notonly loses awareness of his self, but also consciousness of being part of a present, socialgroup, located in a specific moment and social reality, occurring within the architecturalframe where the work is presented. PUBLIC SPACE TWO AUDIENCES the work looksback; the spectator, inversely, sees his projection of self (conventionally missing) returnedspecularly by the material (and structural) aspects of the work.

GLASS BUILDINGS CORPORATE SHOWCASES

At the same t ime that glass reveals, it conceals. If one looks into a glass showcase one can have the illusion that the container is neutral, without apparent interest in thecontent of what it displays; or, conversely, the appearance of what is contained can be seenas a function of the qualities of the container itself. the ideology of modern Functionalist architecture, an architectural form appropriates and merges both of these readings

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thernanlentation,no distinction between the fC rI and its material ,)UU\OLLU

that is, the form represents nOmIng more or less th n the a fo rm or struc-ture is seen to represent its contained the bUlldlWl2;

pnll 1i p i with its real for those who use this idea ispV 1 n r r C C P fl in the formula: efficient form is beautiful and beautiful form is efficient. This has

use value,buHclmg contributes to the of the company housed \ \rithin it. Thelook of a its cleanness and structural transparency the of scientificprogress to that of the social of efficient business These and steel build-

usually house corporations or government transparent func-tionalism conceals its less apparent ideological function: the use of tec:hrloJ Oj2Y

by corporations or government to theirsion of order on society. The view is diverted away from its social context byfocusing only on its surface material or structural qualities. Glass and steel are used asmaterials, for the sake of their materiality. The use of glass gives another illusion: that whatis seen is seen exactly as it is. Through the glass one sees the technical workings of the company and the technical engineering of the building s structure. The literal transparencyno t only falsely objectifies reality, but is a paradoxical camouflage; for while the actual function of a corporation may be to concentrate its self-contained power and control by se-creting information, its architectural facade the impression of absolute openness. Thetransparency is visual only; glass separates the visual from the verbal, insulating outsidersf rom the content of the decision-making processes, and from the invisible, bu t real, interrelationships linking company operations to society. A building with glass on four sides givesthe illusion of self-containment-legitimating the corporation s claim to autonomy ( TheWorld of General Motors ). In looking through glass on all sides, the particular, focused-upon detail, the interior, is lost one looks through and not t to the architectural generality, to the apparent materialness of the outward form, or to Nature light, sun, sky orthe landscape glimpsed through the building on the other side).

SETH SIEGELAUBThe Artist s Reserved Rights Transfer and Sale Agreement (I97I)THE AHTIST S RESEHVED HIGHTS THANSFEH AND SALE AGHEEMENT was written March I97 I by myself and lawyer Bob Projansky, after my extensive discussions with artists

and other people involved with the day-to-day operation of the international art world.Since then, the Contract has been translated and distributed into German, French and

Italian, in addition to the original English. At present plans are underway for translationand distribution into Dutch, Flemish and Spanish.

: Seth Siegelaub, T he Artist s Reserved Rights Transfer and Sale Agreement March I97I), in ocument5 Kassel: Documenta, 1972), I8.I3

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Graham, Dan - Three Projects.pdf