A talk between three artists around
Julia Scher's work.
The
Dan Graham – Melanges collection is much more than a tribute to
Dan Graham. It is an attempt to catch up with the artist's use of conversations and monologues and sketch a somewhat see-through portrait of him, a two way reflection. This collection brings together short texts, lectures, conversations, newly-commissioned essays and
varia.
Les presses du réel and Dan Graham have had a long-standing friendship. Here is an attempt to celebrate it.
Born 1954 in Hollywood,
Julia Scher lives and works in Cologne. Inspired by the French philosopher Michel Foucault and the sociologist Gary T. Marx, Julia Scher's work focuses on the subjects surveillance and cyber-sphere. Aiming at the exposure of dangers and ideologies of monitoring systems, Scher creates temporary and transitory web/installation/performance works that explore issues of power, control and seduction. Her art projects have taken the form of interactive installations, reformulated surveillance, site tours, interventions, performances, photography, writing, net.art, linear video, and sound.
Julia Scher has taught and lectured extensively, and has been Professor for Multimedia Performance Surveillant Architectures at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne.
Dan Graham (1942-2022) was a highly influential figure in the field of contemporary art, both as an
artist and as a well-respected critic and theorist. He was the founding director of the John Daniels Gallery (1964–1965),
where he presented
Sol LeWitt's first solo exhibition and showed works by Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, and
Robert Smithson.
Graham is known for his early conceptual work for magazines, his groundbreaking video work, and his site-specific
architectural pavilions.
Antoine Catala (born 1975 in Toulouse, lives and works in New York) is a French artist. He uses lo-fi and analog technology as a riposte to the digital virtuosity of today's media. Shot through with jokes and wordplay that often mask a certain seriousness, his works display a material and conceptual continuity founded equally on the aesthetics of science and semiotics.
Mieko Meguro (born in Hokkaido, lives and works in New York) is a Japanese artist. She works in various mediums as well as making illustrated book. Her works combine vulnerability and humour with her unique view of transnational identities and cross-cultural histories.
She was the long-time partner of
Dan Graham.
