Dan Graham

Description

Publicatie analyseert het gelijknamige video essay van de Amerikaanse kunstenaar Dan Graham. - Dan Graham's Rock My Religion (1982-1984) is a video essaypopulated by punk and rock performers and historical figures. It represented a coming together of narrative voice-overs, singing and shouting voices, and jarring sounds and overlaid texts that proposed a historical genealogy of rock music and an ambitious thesis about the origins of North America's popular culture. Because of its passionate embrace of underground music, it slow-fi aesthetics, interest in politics, and liberal approach to historiography, the video hasbecome a landmark work in the history of contemporary moving image and art; but it has remained,possibly for the same reasons, one of Graham's least written about works -underappreciated and possibly misunderstood by the critics who otherwise celebrate him. This illustrated study of Graham's groundbreaking work fills that critical gap. Kodwo Eshun examines Rock My Religion not only in terms of contemporary art and Graham's wider body of work but also as part of the broader culture of the time. He explores the relationship between Graham and New York's underground music scene of the 1980s, connecting the artistic methods of the No Wavebands- especially their group dynamics and relationship to the audience -and Rock My Religion's treatment of working class identity and culture