Blog post #6

Vito Acconci

Vito Acconci was an influential American performance artist and architecture and sculptor. He was born in 1940 in New York. His early work was characterized as existential unease and controversial, often dealing with sexuality, provocation and discomfort. Acconci was deeply influenced by his experience growing up with a menacing appearing, and seemingly his performance art was his response to these experiences.

Following Piece (1969)

One of his most famous work was Following Piece (1969). The piece took place in the streets of New York, where Acconci spent everyday for a month following strangers on the street. He often went alone, sometimes with a friend to document the process. He would stalk a stranger for hours and would not stop until they entered private buildings where he could not follow. As a common theme in his art, in this piece, he played on the fear and discomfort of his participants. It created a real tension based on an act. The performance, despite being not real to him, simulated a potentially real situation in life, and played out as reality, or even hyperreality, for the participants.

Trademarks (1970)

Acconci often uses his own body as a medium, making everything in his performance as real as possible. It is also the realness that causes unease for his audience, which is what he wants to simulate and experiment on. As an example, in his piece Trademarks (1970), he sits on the ground, naked, and bites his own body so violently that he broke his own skin.

Seedbed (1972)

In another of his most notorious performances, Acconci constructed a wooden ramp in the gallery, under which he sat, while being able to see people walking outside through a peep hole. He then masturbated and described his sexual fantasies about each person walking by. In reality, everybody for sure has their own fantasy, and they all know it, but it is unusual and rather bizarre to hear such thing out loud. Acconci was intrigued with the role that the space plays, not only in art but in everyday life. His artwork focuses on a game between space and the audience. He turned something from the private space in everybody's mind into the public space of the gallery. Once again, he imposed the often hidden reality on to his audience, turning it into hyperreality for the audience.

Bibliography:
https://aaep1600.osu.edu/book/14_Acconci.php
https://publicdelivery.org/vito-acconci-performances
https://www.wmagazine.com/story/vito-acconci-dead-famous-works/
https://mediaburn.org/blog/vito_acconci/
https://www.artsy.net/artist/vito-acconci