Vito Acconci

Known for DirectingBorn 1940-01-24Died 2017-04-27New York City, New York, USA

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.Read more

Movies & web series

Journeys from Berlin/1971

Revenge of the Mekons

The Golden Boat

Burden

Chelsea on the Rocks

Seven Easy Pieces

America Is Not Ready for This

The Art of Time

You're Going to Die!

Steven Holl: The Body in Space

Aktionskunst International. Dokumente zum Internationalen Aktionismus

Election Tape '84

How to Fly

14 Americans: Directions of the 1970s

The Red Tapes

Body Art

My Word

Turn-On

Open Book

Shoot

Face of the Earth

Full Circle

Willoughby Sharp Videoviews Vito Acconci

Theme Song

Face-Off

Air Time

Walk-Over

Visions of a Disappearance

Reception Room

Recording Studio From Air Time

Command Performance

Home Movies

Seedbed

Undertone

Cross-Fronts

Go Between

Face to Face

Anchors

Hand to Hand

Centers

Pryings

Conversions 1

Remote Control

Association Area

Claim Excerpts

Two Track

Breath In (To) / Out (Of)

Training Ground