Dan Graham, one America’s most influential artists, has died at the age of 79. His career spanned nearly 60 years over an array of different disciplines. His work investigated art as a social meaning, questioning the understanding of art as an experience isolated from other forms of human activity.

During the early summer of 1997 Graham was commissioned by the AA to install a pergola on the first-floor terrace, titled Architecture 2, as part of the celebrations for the AA’s 150^th birthday. The installation was accompanied by an exhibition at the AA that traced the developments of Graham’s work revealing its main tenants.

The pavilion drew contrasts from the traditional landscape garden and offered up an alternative; the public and the private space; the suburban house and the urban core; the shopping façade and corporate office building.

Graham’s passing will be a great loss to the architecture community.

Image: Dan Graham at the AA (1997). Courtesy of AA archives