Vito Acconci

Born: 1940-01-24

Vito Acconci (January 24, 1940 – April 27, 2017) was an American performance, video and installation artist, whose diverse practice eventually included sculpture, architectural design, and landscape design. His performance and video art was characterized by "existential unease," exhibitionism, discomfort, transgression and provocation, as well as wit and audacity, and often involved crossing boundaries such as public–private, consensual–nonconsensual, and real world–art world. His work is considered to have influenced artists including Laurie Anderson, Karen Finley, Bruce Nauman, and Tracey Emin, among others. Acconci was initially interested in radical poetry, creating 0 to 9 Magazine, but by the late 1960s he began creating Situationist-influenced performances in the street or for small audiences that explored the body and public space. Two of his most famous pieces were Following Piece (1969), in which he selected random passersby on New York City streets and followed them for as long as he was able, and Seedbed (1972), in which he claimed that he masturbated while under a temporary floor at the Sonnabend Gallery, as visitors walked above and heard him speaking. In the late-1970s, he turned to sculpture, architecture and design, greatly increasing the scale of his work, if not his art world profile. Over the next two decades he developed public artworks and parks, airport rest areas, artificial islands and other architectural projects that frequently embraced participation, change and playfulness. Notable works of this period include: Personal Island, designed for Zwolle, the Netherlands (1994); Walkways Through the Wall at the Wisconsin Center, in Milwaukee, WI (1998); and Murinsel, for Graz, Austria (2003). Retrospectives of Acconci's work have been organized by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1978) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1980), and his work is in numerous public collections, including those of the Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art. He has been recognized with fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1976, 1980, 1983, 1993), John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1979), and American Academy in Rome (1986).[6] In addition to his art and design work, Acconci taught at many higher learning institutions. Acconci died on April 27, 2017, in Manhattan at age 77.


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Journeys from Berlin/1971

as uncredited
Released: 1980-01-11

An epic meditation on psychoanalysis, the Baader-Meinhof, feminism, and pre-revolutionary Russia.

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Chelsea on the Rocks

as Self
Released: 2008-05-23

Chelsea on the Rocks celebrates the personalities and artistic voices that have emerged from New...

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Burden

as Self
Released: 2016-04-16

A probing portrait of Chris Burden, an artist who took creative expression to the limits and...

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14 Americans: Directions of the 1970s

as Himself
Released: 1981-09-01

The multiple means of making art after the end of illusionism led these artists to create...

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Revenge of the Mekons

as Himself
Released: 2013-11-14

Documentary about the Mekons.

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Steven Holl: The Body in Space

as Self
Released: 1999-02-22

"Steven Holl: The Body in Space" explores the career of the innovative, highly renowned American...

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The Golden Boat

as Swiss assassin
Released: 1991-06-22

Inspired in form by American police TV shows and soap operas, The Golden Boat is a madcap,...

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The Art of Time

as Self
Released: 2009-10-10

Explores some of the most innovative attempts by contemporary artists, filmmakers, architects...

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The Red Tapes

as Himself
Released: 1977-01-01

A three-part video epic in which avant-garde artist Vito Acconci explores the relationship...

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You're Going to Die!

as Narrator
Released: 2006-10-22

"You’re Going to Die!" is a children’s story exploring one simple idea ad nauseum bonum. This...

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Turn-On

as Himself
Released: 1974-01-01

The back of Acconci's head is seen in tight close-up. He hums to himself, first lyrically, then...

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Digging Piece

as Self
Released: 1970-01-01

Standing alone among beach dunes, Acconci begins to kick at the sand below him. Over the course...

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Flour/Breath Piece

as Self
Released: 1970-01-01

The artist, covered in flour, tries to blow the flour off his skin.

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Two Takes

as Self
Released:

Acconci oftens performs controlled actions as if he had entered into a contractual agreement to...

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Gargle/Spit Piece

as Self
Released: 1970-01-01

The artist, sitting naked, takes water from a pot into his mouth and gargles; he spits it out...

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Three Adaptation Studies

as Himself
Released: 1970-01-01

Three-part short film. In 'Blindfold Catching', a blindfolded Acconci reacts, flinching and...

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Association Area

as Himself
Released: 1971-01-01

This early performance tape is an example of what Acconci has termed his "quasi-ESP exercises,"...

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