Vito Acconci

Vito Acconci
Vito Acconci in 1973
Born	Vito Hannibal Acconci (1940-01-24) January 24, 1940 Bronx, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	College of the Holy Cross University of Iowa
Known for	Landscape architect Installation art
Website	http://www.acconci.com

'Crash', photointaglio, aquatint, relief and shaped embossing by Vito Acconci, 1985

'City of Words', lithograph by Vito Acconci, 1999

Vito Hannibal Acconci (born January 24, 1940) is a Bronx, New York-born, Brooklyn-based designer, landscape architect, performance and installation artist. The term landscape architect has different meaning depending on location; however, in general the title (like architect or engineer) is usually protected, and to practice landscape architecture one requires licensure or registration.

Life and work

Education

Acconci attended Regis High School in New York City. He received a B.A. in literature from the College of the Holy Cross in 1962 and an M.F.A. in literature and poetry from the University of Iowa.

Works

Acconci began his career as a poet, editing 0 TO 9 with Bernadette Mayer in the late 1960s. In the late 1960s, Acconci transformed himself into a performance and video artist using his own body as a subject for photography, film, video, and performance. His performance and video work was marked heavily by confrontation and Situationism. In the mid 1970s, Acconci expanded his metier into the world of audio/visual installations.

One installation/performance piece from this period is Seedbed (January 15–29, 1971). In Seedbed Acconci lay hidden underneath a gallery-wide ramp installed at the Sonnabend Gallery, masturbating while vocalizing into a loudspeaker his fantasies about the visitors walking above him on the ramp. One motivation behind Seedbed was to involve the public in the work's production by creating a situation of reciprocal interchange between artist and viewer.

In the article "Video: the Aesthetics of Narcissism", Rosalind Krauss refers to aspects of Narcissism apparent in the video work of Acconci. “A line of sight begin Acconci’s plane of vision ends on the eyes of his projected double”. Krauss uses this description to underline aspects of narcissism in the Vito Acconci work "Centers." In the piece Acconci is filming himself pointing directly at himself for about 25 minutes, by doing so Acconci makes a nonsensical gesture that exemplifies the critical aspects of a work of art through the beginning of the 20th century. Krauss also goes on to explain the psychological basis behind the actions of video in comparison to discussions of object art.

In 2008, in an interview with Brian Sherwin for Myartspace, Vito discussed Seedbed at length. Vito discussed the title Seedbed and the connection it had to the performance, stating, "I knew what my goal had to be: I had to produce seed, the space I was in should become a bed of seed, a field of seed – in order to produce seed, I had to masturbate – in order to masturbate, I had to excite myself."

During the 1980s he invited viewers to create artwork by activating machinery that erected shelters and signs. He also turned to the creation of furniture and to prototypes of houses and gardens in the late 1980s. The artist also founded Acconci Studio in 1988 focusing on theoretical design and building. Acconci has designed the United Bamboo store in Tokyo in 2003 and collaborated on concept designs for interactive art vehicle Mister Artsee in 2006 among others.

More recently, the artist has focused on architecture and landscape design that integrates public and private space. One example of this is "Walkways Through the Wall," which flow through structural boundaries of the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and provide seating at both ends.

Another example of his work is Dirt Wall (1992) at the Arvada Center Sculpture Garden in Colorado. The wall begins outside the Arvada Center and extends inside, rising from ground level to a height of 24 feet. The glass and steel wall contains a mixture of volcanic rock, various types of sand, red dolomite, and topsoil which are visible through the glass panels, and represents an attempt to bring what is underground up, and what is outside in.

Academic career

Acconci has taught at many institutions, including the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax; California Institute of the Arts, Valencia; Cooper Union; School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Yale University; Pratt Institute; and the Parsons School of Design. He currently teaches at Brooklyn College in the Art Department and Performance and Interactive Media Arts programs and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Pratt Institute in the Graduate Architecture and Urban Design Department.

Bibliography

• Peter Lodermeyer, Karlyn De Jongh & Sarah Gold, “Personal Structures: Time Space Existence”, DuMont Verlag, Cologne, Germany, (2009): p. 282 - 287.

See also

• Murinsel

Articles

• Alessandra Orlandoni "Interview with Vito Acconci" - The Plan 020, June 2007

• Frederic Maufras - Parachute 118, April-June 2005

External links

• Oral history interview with Vito Acconci, 2008 June 21-28 from the Archives of American Art
• Vito Acconci at the Museum of Modern Art
• Biography of the artist at EAI.
• Acconci video art in the Video Data Bank.
• Guide to the 0 TO 9 archive from the Fales Library at NYU.
• Artist's page in Artfacts.Net with actual major exhibitions.
• An appreciation of Acconci by critic Jerry Saltz.
• 2 pieces of Sound Poetry on UBUWEB.
• Art videos directed and performed by Vito Acconci on UbuWeb
• An interview with Acconci by designboom
• Willoughby Sharp Videoviews Vito Acconci (1973) on UbuWeb
• Public artwork at the West 8th Street-New York Aquarium subway station, commissioned by MTA Arts for Transit
• Public artwork at the 161st Street-Yankee Stadium, commissioned by MTA Arts for Transit
• Vito Acconci, Mediateca Media Art Space
• Vito Acconci Interviews, Conceptual Paradise, Leuphana University Lueneburg
• TateShots: Vito Acconci The artist talks about his famous show at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York, 1972

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