Dan Graham steel-and-glass pavilions expand the surrounding landscape due to the unique properties of reflection, refraction, and diffusion of light, which shift as the surrounding scenery changes, in response to visitors’ movements within the space. The glass panels that make up the pavilions are transparent on one side and reflect light like a mirror on the other, thereby inviting viewers to interact with the work and explore its changing nature. The space becomes a place of “disorientation” where the boundary between interior and exterior, public and private, blurs through reflections and transparencies.
“my pavilions are utopian because they allow you to see both transparency and reflection at the same time from both sides of the walls. I use glass with variable reflectivity, which today allows one to control the percentage of reflection on both sides, and often, if there are multiple reflections, I keep the reflectivity low so as to blend it with transparency. However, the relationship between the two also depends on the conditions of the sky and the external light; indeed, it changes constantly, and this creates a landscape-like quality in my architecture.” D.G.