Performer/Audience/Mirror (1975)
Located in a dance studio the audience is seated on the floor facing a mirrored wall (looking back at themselves). Dan Graham enters the room and faces audience with his back to the mirror. He starts to describe his appearance and his movements as they occur and then starts to describe the audience before turning to face himself in the mirror and describe his reflection.
I am interested in the work of Dan Graham, particularly the period of the late 60s to late 70s in which his work explores perception and self-awareness. He creates situations and environments that explore what he describes as continuous present time and static present time:
“It gives them an idea of themselves as a social group. It was the social group that I was giving them that was continuous and then they could look at themselves and see themselves in another social group as a portrait...with the help of the mirror the audience can make use of the time situation”
Graham, D. Interviews / edited by Hans Dieter Huber. Ostfildern : Cantz, 1997.
