I first heard of Vito Acconci when I learned of his famous masturbation piece that took place under the floorboards of Sonnabend gallery in 1972....his private moment made semi-public. It was called 'Seedbed.' Acconci spent 8 hours a day over a 3 week period lying under a low wooden ramp in the gallery telling his sexual fantasies of and to every viewer that came into the gallery- his words emanated over speakers in the gallery for all to hear. The video documentation of the piece shows no visual sexual content - it is all in words and suggestions. (See the top right hand photo for an image of Acconci performing this piece.)
I then learned more about his work- He dealt in the private/public, the body and the psychological- primarily through performance and video. Then, in a video class in Grad School, I saw his video 'Theme Song', 1973 (See the top left hand photo). Oh my god. I had a mixture of reactions: humor, uncomfortableness, revulsion and entrancement. He drew me into the television monitor like no one ever had. It is still my favorite video piece ever made.
In this piece, he plays a cassette player with music from the Doors, Bob Dylan etc. He brings his legs in towards the camera as if he is wrapping his body around you, his face taking up the right hand side of the frame, and then brings his legs back out behind him. During the entire video, he smokes cigarettes and tries to talk you into coming into the video space with him... He asks you to come to him with 'openness and manipulation' (Electronic Arts Intermix quote):
"Of course I can't see your face. I have no idea what your face looks like. You could be anybody out there, but there's gotta be somebody watching me. Somebody who wants to come in close to me ... Come on, I'm all alone ... "
Here is an overall view of his work - words are again from the website, Electronic Arts Intermix:
'In the 1970s, he produced a remarkable body of conceptual, performance-based film and video works, in which he engages in an intensive psychodramatic dialogue between artist and viewer, body and self, public and private, subject and object.
In his video performances, the body is a site for a physical and psychological search for self, with language as the catalyst. Video is equated with the close-up, an intimate theatrical space for face-to-face confessionals and actions. Intensely personal, often to the point of exhibitionism, Acconci's stream-of-consciousness monologues and performative acts, documented in real time by a fixed camera, chronicle the insertion of the private self into the public sphere.'
Now with the onslaught of the internet, skype, youtube...with people photographing themselves...teenagers knowing how to pose in the most flattering (above head to the side shot) poses for their fb pages...Now where is the body, the identity? It's meta compared to Acconci...he is within all of us now in this way. Many of us in this digital age are doing what he was doing in the 70s - only not with the same sense of self-awareness. Our self-awareness is a different kind of critical? We aren't thinking of the body as body...our digital bodies are obvious representations to us....how are we represented online? How are we packaging and showing ourselves?
Our ability to reach people has changed through digital means. The spread of our reach is infinite...but the depth/realness is often less so... it is less body, less face to face in the internet age...but there are more people to reach towards, to interact with - even if it is on a digital realm often or even only.
In our internet age, do we see a video of someone talking to the camera as if the viewer could come inside of the video space? Yes. Do we see someone seducing the viewer? Yes. Is this video piece a forerunner to the skype seduction between a girlfriend and her boyfriend?
The third image above is from Acconci's video, 'Open Book', 1974. Honestly, I couldn't watch much of it. It grossed me out or annoyed me or something...I couldn't understand what he was saying -which I found frustrating...but it also felt disturbing in that special Acconci way that I can't help but have respect for.
Here is a quote about this piece from online ArtForum:
'Vito Acconci's open mouth is framed by the camera in an extreme close-up, bringing the viewer uncomfortably close.. A desperte sense of strained urgency comes across as Acconci gasps, 'I'll accpet you, I won't shut down, I won'tbshut you out... I'm open to you, I'm open to everything...This is not a trap, we can go inside, yes, come inside...” Acconci continues to plead in this way for the length of the tape, his mouth help unnaturally wide open. The pathological psychology of such enforced openness betrays a struggle to accept and be accepted by others. The sustained image of Acconci's open mouth also evidences a sinister, vaguely threatening streak that is more or less evident in much of Acconci's work.'
I am especially drawn to the above section of the quote: 'The pathological psychology of such enforced openness betrays a desperate struggle to accept and be accepted by others'. I see that in all of his work. There is a beautiful humanity sitting right next to that threatening sinister streak also mentioned above...right next to each other - co-mingling.
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