Artist Review: Dan Graham 9/16

In my search for more and more video artists one of the names that is seemingly impossible to skip over or not mention is Dan Graham. It seems any and every book I've checked out from the library in relation to media art mentions or cites Graham. So whats all the fuss about?

As I struggle with my own feelings of how surveillance and performance within my own work, it seems I have looked up Dan Graham at just the right time. No matter what medium he chooses to work with Grahams use of the audience and viewer interaction is the central theme that runs through all his work.

Graham is known for both his architectural, video and performance works, but I found that I was most intrigued by one of his video works. In 1978 Graham set up a projection screen or "picture window" that broadcast outside of the house what it was that the family inside was viewing. By being able to see what it is exactly the house was watching you might get a sense of who the family is and what there interests are. You might also might get a peek into their social life, or how much time they spend watching TV.

Television programs are often short stories and sneak peaks into the outside world, and to other peoples way of life. whether it is in the evening news or your afternoon soup opera. But as a viewer watching these in the comfort of your own home you are relatively unaware of the premeditated voyeurism that is the back bone of these programs. With Grahams piece, the viewer is given an window on the front lawn of the house, a window that is not quite so obvious as to who these people are or what there doing, but its the step under knowing that you are the "Peeping Tom" of the neighborhood.

This piece is interesting because it takes everything you think you know about what TV is and kind of spins it on its head. It is more than just informant news, or amusing sitcoms. It is a place where real families are transported and transformed for a certain period of time into something or somewhere else. TV is the peeking through someone's window, or the fly on the wall.

Video Projection Outside Home, (1978)

"TV might be metaphorically visualized as a mirror in which the viewing family sees an idealized, ideologically distorted reflection of themselves represented in typical genres of TV.." Dan Graham