Dan Graham’s pavilion S-Curve for St. Gallen was con-ceived for the yard of the locomotive shed in St. Gallen, Switzerland, where it served as museum café. Oscillating between installation and quasi-functional space, the work is informed by a social awareness that is typical of Graham’s work. Rigorously conceptual, uniquely beautiful, and avowedly public, the pavilions exhibit a deliberate disorientation and playfulness that Graham encourages. Blurring the line between art and architecture, his pavilions are comprised of stainless steel and two-way mirror glass to create diverse optical effects. The transparent but reflective walls produce a distorted reflection: The viewer becomes involved in the voyeuristic act of seeing oneself, while at the same time watching others – playing with physical reality and reflections, creating light-hearted situations out of a surveillance culture.
