DAN GRAHAM - ROCK MY RELIGION

Since Dan Graham (1942) started to investigate the relationship between man and architecture in the late 1960s, he has become one of the most significant figures to emerge from the first generation of conceptual artists. In the early 1980s Graham created the monumental video project Rock my Religion, in which he traced a historical continuum from the Shakers, a religious community that practiced self-denial and ecstatic trance dances, to rock music. In doing so, he put cultural paradigms associated with late-twentieth century youth culture, such as the longing for collectivity and the liberation of the body, into historical perspective. Here, images of architecture embody the links between spectacle, belief and politics. The star is a messianic saviour, the media-generated innocence of young people suggests angelic figures, and “the apocalypse becomes secular doom”.

Rock My Religion