Dan Graham, Triangular Bridge Over Water, 1990

two-way mirror glass, anodized aluminum

Laumeier Sculpture Park Commission with funds from the Mark Twain Laumeier Endowment Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts

Triangle Bridge Over Water functions both as a primer for historical covered bridge construction and as a conceptual membrane for refracting space and time. Like a futuristic version of Bridges of Madison County as if designed by Albert Einstein, the two-way mirror panels attached to a steel truss reflect and absorb the exterior public space. This arrangement counter-intuitively creates an interior private experience where the self, bridge and woods are simultaneously reflected. The fixed dimensions of the structure are warped by the speed of the viewer who crosses the bridge; what we see is continually altered by the act of seeing. By landing this space-age architectural form in a leafy bower, Graham illustrates a theory of perception by unifying the relationship between the designed elements of his sculpture and the whole of a visual experience. Using a grid pattern with encased cinematic views, this work enhances the artificial nature of the Arcadian landscape.

Triangular Bridge Over Water is part of the Ten Sites program from 1980­­-1990. Ten Sites was a unique program that brought together artists with tradespeople from the County Parks Department in creative collaboration.

Location: Nature Trails