Buildings and Signs traces Dan Graham's sustained interrogation of space and perception through the architectural pavilions and model-like works that defined the final decades of one of conceptual art's most consequential careers.
About This Book
Dan Graham spent decades dissolving the boundary between art and architecture, most recognisably through his walk-through glass Pavilions — structures that are neither purely sculptural nor purely built, but something productively in between. By placing architecturally designed elements within existing spatial contexts, Graham engineered what he described as an estrangement effect: a perceptual disruption that compels viewers to rediscover dimensions of space they had ceased to consciously register. This publication gives sustained attention to his model-based works, presenting Graham's own perspective on how these objects operate at the intersection of conceptual art and architectural thinking. Essential reading for practitioners interested in how spatial design can function as critical inquiry.
Key Features
- 88 pages of documentation and critical material on Graham's model-based works and glass Pavilions
- Includes discussion of the Roof Garden commission at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, developed in collaboration with landscape architect and ETH professor Günther Vogt
- Published by gta Verlag, 2022
What You'll Discover
- How Graham's glass Pavilions use transparency and reflection to actively reshape a viewer's perception of surrounding space
- The estrangement effect as a design strategy — spatial disorientation as a means of renewed spatial awareness
- The relationship between model-making and built form in Graham's practice, where the model is not preparatory but conclusive
- How Graham's collaboration with landscape architect Günther Vogt on the Met Roof Garden extends his architectural thinking into an institutional and public realm
About the Author
Dan Graham (1942–2022) was one of the most influential figures in conceptual art from the 1960s onwards, whose practice moved fluidly between performance, video, writing, and architecture. His glass Pavilion works — placing designed elements in space to alter perceptual experience — earned him an enduring position at the intersection of art and architectural discourse.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 88
- Dimensions: 260 x 330 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783856763473
- Publisher: gta Verlag
- Publication Date: 2022
Perfect For: Architects, artists, and theorists working at the boundary of spatial design and conceptual practice; students of architectural theory and contemporary art history.