The fusion of art and architecture in Arsham’s work produces a compelling visual language. His drawings, as he describes, are hypothetical. “They’re not proposals but imagined scenarios. Architecture often becomes sterile due to the practical considerations one must address when building a space. These constraints can become overpowering. By blending my practice with architectural principles, the work gains a lighter, less conservative quality.”

The notion of “play” plays a fundamental role in Arsham’s creative process. He fondly recalls one of his early exhibitions with Emmanuel Perrotin, aptly titled Playground. “It was a wordplay referencing both the ground and surface. The show featured works of figures embedded in architecture, wrapping themselves around walls and appearing to fall from ceilings. One installation, a curtain on the wall, gave the illusion of wind blowing behind it.”

It’s this manipulation of familiar elements that gives Arsham’s work its distinct sense of wonder. “We inherently know what a wall feels like, its solidity and structural purpose. By disrupting these qualities while preserving the surface’s familiar appearance, the work suggests that its form has been manipulated — and that’s both intriguing and unsettling.” Pieces like Corner Knot and Sheet explore these ideas, inviting us to question our perceptions of space and materiality.

In his latest series, exhibited at Galerie Perrotin, Arsham applies the same conceptual approach to ancient Greek sculptures. His visit to Athens for the Hellenic Festival sparked the idea. “While there, I visited several museums and photographed broken marble heads. Back in New York, I started manipulating these images, adding elements that made the sculptures appear as though they were originally carved that way. It became a playful exercise in altering history — a kind of parallel history.” Arsham describes this as a way of reimagining history as non-linear, with time folding and bending through his artistic interventions.

Currently, Arsham and Mustonen are working on a large-scale project for Miami’s new baseball stadium. “We’re repurposing the letters from the old Miami Orange Bowl stadium — which was demolished — and scattering them across the plaza of the new stadium. The letters no longer spell out ‘Miami Orange Bowl,’ but they retain the memory of that space.”

The project, set to debut in April 2012, will serve as both a historical nod and a contemporary reinvention. “For those familiar with the old stadium, these letters will evoke memories of past experiences. For newcomers, the installation will offer a completely fresh, unfamiliar encounter,” Arsham explains.

Through his work, Daniel Arsham continues to challenge our assumptions about the built environment, inviting us to question time, space, and materiality — and ultimately, to rediscover the magic in the mundane.