Vito Acconci
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Vito Acconci (Italian: [ˈviːto akˈkontʃi], /əˈkɒntʃi/; January 24, 1940 – April 27, 2017)[2][3] was an American performance, video and installation artist, whose diverse practice eventually included sculpture, architectural design, and landscape design. His performance and video art[4] was characterized by "existential unease," exhibitionism, discomfort, transgression and provocation, as well as wit and audacity,[3] and often involved crossing boundaries such as public–private, consensual–nonconsensual, and real world–art world.[5][6] His work is considered to have influenced artists including Laurie Anderson, Karen Finley, Bruce Nauman, and Tracey Emin, among others.[5]
Acconci was initially interested in radical poetry, creating
In the late-1970s, he turned to sculpture, architecture and design, greatly increasing the scale of his work, if not his art world profile.
Life and work
Education
Born Vito Hannibal Acconci in the
1960s and 70s
Acconci began his career as a
In the late 1960s, Acconci transformed himself into a
One installation/performance work from this period, perhaps his best known work, is
Cindy Nemser was the first art critic to write about Acconci for Arts Magazine in 1971.[20] Nemser also later did an interview with Acconci which became the cover piece for Arts Magazine.
In the article "Video: the Aesthetics of Narcissism,"
1980s
In the 1980s, Acconci turned to permanent sculptures and installations. During this time he invited viewers to create artwork by activating machinery that erected shelters and signs. One of the most prominent examples of these temporary installations is titled Instant House, which was first created in 1980, but was recently exhibited in the summer of 2012 at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.[22] Later, in January 1983, Acconci was a visiting artist at Middlebury College. During that time, he completed Way Station I (Study Chamber), which was his first permanent installation.[22] The work sparked immense controversy on the college's campus, and was eventually set on fire and destroyed in 1985.[22] Despite this, the sculpture marked a transition for Acconci's career from performance artist to architectural designer.[22] He turned to the creation of furniture and prototypes of houses and gardens in the late 1980s, and in 1988, the artist founded Acconci Studio, which focused on theoretical design and building. Acconci Studio is located on Jay Street in Brooklyn. Acconci designed the United Bamboo store in Tokyo in 2003, and collaborated on concept designs for interactive art vehicle Mister Artsee in 2006, among others including the highly acclaimed: Murinsel in Graz, Austria.
The artist has focused on architecture and landscape design that integrates public and private space. One example of this is
2000s
One of his later works, Lobby-for-the-Time-Being is an installation in the North Wing Lobby of Bronx Museum of the Arts. It has been there since 2009. The installation fills the lobby with a web of white Corian, creating a long, undulating wall resembling giant paper snowflakes.[24]
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."[25]
In 2010, Acconci completed Waterfall Out & In, a water feature at the visitors' center of the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Part of the piece is indoors and part of the piece is outdoors.
In 2013, Acconci's Way Station I (Study Chamber), a work that was vandalized and destroyed in 1985 after being constructed for Middlebury College, was reinstalled along with an exhibit at the college's museum.[26]
In 2014, Acconci was featured in a video segment, produced by
Academic career
Acconci taught at many institutions, including the
Personal life and death
Acconci had been married to the artist Rosemary Mayer in the 1960s.[28] Acconci died on April 28, 2017. He was 77.[2][3] His cause of death has not been released by his estate. He is survived by his wife, Maria Acconci.[29]
Exhibitions
- "Vienna For Art's Sake ! Contemporary Art Show", created by Peter Noever; 161 exceptional artists, architects, designers, 13 solo exhibitions / site-specific interventions: Vito + Maria Elena Acconci, Zaha hadid, Magdalena Jetelová, Michael Kienzer, Hans Kupelwieser, Hermann Nitsch, Eva Schlegel, Kiki Smith, the next ENTERprise, Iv Toshain, Atelier Van Lieshout, Koen Vanmechelen, Manfred Wakolbinger; Winter Palace/Belvedere Wien; starting point: Imago Mundi/Luciano Benetton Collection, Archive Austria, curated by Peter Noever, Wien, 2015
- "Vito Acconci. The City Inside Us", edited by Peter Noever/MAK, 1993
See also
References
- ^ Kennedy, Randy (2 June 2016). "Vito Acconci, an Artist as Influential as He Is Eccentric". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
- ^ a b Russeth, Andrew (28 April 2017). "Vito Acconci, Whose Poetic, Menacing Work Forms Bedrock of Performance, Video Art, Dies at 77". ARTnews. Sarah Douglas. Art Media. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ a b c d Kennedy, Randy (April 28, 2017). "Vito Acconci, Performance Artist and Uncommon Architect, Dies at 77". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-04-30. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
- ^ Scott, Andrea K. (April 28, 2017). "Postscript: Vito Acconci, 1940–2017". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
- ^ a b Capps, Kriston (May 3, 2017). "Vito Acconci and the Shelf Life of Sensational Art". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
- ^ a b "Vito Acconci, Guggenheim Collection Online". Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
- Metropolitan Museum of New York. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
- ^ Gopnik, Blake (October 24, 2012). "Vito Acconci Named Designer of the Year by Design Miami". The Daily Beast. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
- BOMB Magazine, referenced 25/4/12
- ^ "Vito Acconci". Retrieved 28 July 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-262-01224-9.
- ^ "Vito Acconci and Bernadette Mayer - 0 to 9 : The Complete Magazine : 1967-1969".
- ISBN 978-1-4381-4066-7.
- ^ Tate. "'SEEDBED', Vito Acconci, 1972 - Tate". Tate.
- ^ Zhong, Fan (28 April 2017). "Revisiting Vito Acconci's 5 Most Infamous—and Transgressive—Performance Art Works".
- ^ Jones, Jonathan (23 November 2002). "See Through, Vito Acconci (1969)". the Guardian.
- ^ Gloria Moure, ed. (2001). Vito Acconci. Barcelona: Ediciones Poligrafa. p. 154.
- ^ "Vito Acconci. Seedbed. 1972 - MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art.
- ^ "Vito Acconci - Seedbed - The Met". The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum.
- ^ Nemser, Cindy (September–October 1971). "Subject=Object=Bedy Art". Arts Magazine.
- ^ Krauss, Rosalind. "Video: The Aesthetics of Narcissism." October 1 (1976): 50-64. JSTOR. Web.
- ^ a b c d Donadio, Emmie. "Vito Acconci's Way Station at Middlebury: A Turning Point in the Artists Career." Vito Acconci: Thinking Space. Middlebury College Museum of Art: Middlebury, 2013. Print.
- ^ Nobel, Philip (April 8, 1999). "Vito Acconci: Designs That Are Meant to Be Touched". The New York Times.
- ^ "Installation: "Lobby-For-The-Time-Being," Acconci Studio, Bronx Museum | Architect Magazine".
- ^ "Art Space Talk: Vito Acconci", Myartspace, 17 April 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
- ^ Pollak, Sally. "Renowned architect confronted by resurrection of early work at Middlebury College". Burlington Free Press. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ Santo, Marc. "Unbuilt: Vito Acconci". Crane.tv. Archived from the original on 29 April 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- ^ "Bernadette Mayer on Rosemary Mayer (1943–2014)". www.artforum.com. 9 December 2014. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
- ^ Davis, Ben (28 April 2017). "Vito Acconci, Transgressive Progenitor of Performance Art, Dies at 77". artnet. artnet worldwide. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
Further reading
- Peter Lodermeyer, Karlyn De Jongh & Sarah Gold, Personal Structures: Time Space Existence, DuMont Verlag, Cologne, Germany, (2009): p. 282 – 287.
- "Vito Acconci." MoMA. MoMA, n.d. Web. 9 May 2013. <Vito Acconci | MoMA>.
- Lee, A. C. "Exhibits From 2 Artists in Their 70s." The New York Times. 26 Apr. 2012. Web.
- Frazer Ward, Mark C. Taylor, Jennifer Bloomer, Vito Acconci, Phaidon, London, 2002.
Articles
- Alessandra Orlandoni "Interview with Vito Acconci" – The Plan 020, June 2007.
- Frederic Maufras Parachute 118, April–June 2005.
- Altered States from London-based ZG Magazine, edited by Rosetta Brooks.
External links
- Oral history interview with Vito Acconci, 2008 June 21-28 from the Archives of American Art
- Vito Acconci collection at the Israel Museum. Retrieved September 2016.
- Vito Acconci at the Museum of Modern Art
- Guide to the 0 TO 9 archive from the Fales Library at NYU
- 0 TO 9 magazine in the Small Press Collections, University College London
- Art videos directed and performed by Vito Acconci on UbuWeb
- UbuWeb Film & Video: Vito Acconci - Willoughby Sharp Videoviews Vito Acconci (1973)
- Art en Route: A Guide to Art in the MTA Network See Acconci works at 161st Street-Yankee Stadiumsubway stations.
- Public Art Fund:Face of the Earth