DAN GRAHAM — TWO CUBES, ONE CUBE ROTATED 45° (1985) at
@palaisdetokyo
Aluminum, double-sided mirror, glass, wood
47.5 x 79 x 89 cm
Dan Graham’s work Two Cubes, One Cube Rotated 45° (1985) was originally designed on a child’s scale for the exhibition Chambres d’amis, organized by Jan Hoet in Ghent in 1986, where fifty-one artists were invited to create a work in the homes of city residents. Built in the garden of architect Dirk Defraeye, the temporary pavilion functioned as a play area (Children’s pavilion).
This is therefore a model of the work, composed of two interpenetrating cubes, constructed from an equal number of glass panels and double-sided mirrors. Inside the structure, the viewer becomes an actor in the work, experiencing its movement, the modification of its viewpoints, and the change in space through the play of reflections and light.
Two Cubes, One Cube Rotated 45° was then constructed in full size, on an adult scale, during the Dan Graham exhibition organized in 1987 at the ARC-Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
The installation operates on a mode of critical perception. Thus, artists working in this register implement plastic processes and devices, whose perception by the viewer (retinal, acoustic, bodily, etc.) induces a renewed awareness of their presence with the work and their relationship to others, thereby extending an artistic situation to the dimensions of the social political body.
The aim is to highlight subjective behavior, or even to modify or destabilize it, and to heighten the viewer’s state of consciousness (awareness of the present moment, context, and process of perception). The works and situations created are often metaphorical of patterns of behavior in society, outside the realm of art. All of Dan Graham’s work, through his frequent use of mirrors, delayed video images, and transparent glass, is emblematic of this exploration of critical perception.
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