Guest post by Jen Gillespie
Walker Arts Center October 31, 2009- January 24, 2010
The Show was also at the Whitney and the MOCA
Opening Lecture Saturday October 31st with the curators from all three galleries as well as the band Japanther.
Last weekend I made a pilgrimage to see Dan Graham’s first retrospective in the United States, in its third and final destination, the Walker Arts Center. The Walker is in Minneapolis, and if you’re from Chicago and you haven’t been, you really should make the trip. Dan Graham’s exhibition Beyond earlier this year was shown at the Whitney in New York (June 25 – October 11, 2009) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (February 15 – May 25, 2009) and was co-curated by Chrissie Iles (Whitney) and Bennett Simpson (MOCA). Beyond traces Graham’s influential body of work highlighting his mirror and video installations as well as his conceptual work. Graham’s work, though over time has changed in its physical product, or the method of his conceptual delivery is tweaked, the work consistently deals with subject-hood, identity, duration/distance and the interconnectivity of environment/subject/object relationships. Graham’s discussion that took place at the Walker last weekend with the co-curators of the exhibition as well as the band Japanther was a fantastic one. In this instance it was a rare example of three discordant aspects of the art world making the sweet, sweet music of politely agreeable disagreement. Each with their own agenda, the curators, Dan Graham, and Japanther, these separate entities all contributed their perspective on Graham’s work, though certainly Dan Graham got the final word. It is after all, his, that’s only fair. Check out the link to view this discussion, Dan Graham is absolutely a legend and shouldn’t be missed. I highly recommend the journey before the show comes down in January.
Links to video
Opening-Day Talk: Dan Graham in conversation with Bennett Simpson and Chrissie Iles
Youtube:
Download the podcast off iTunes U
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