Background
Acconci was born on January 24, 1940, in Bronx, New York, United States. His father, Hamilc Acconci, was a bathrobe manufacturer. His mother, Chiara, also known as Catherine, worked as a school cafeteria attendant.
55 E 84th St, New York, NY 10028, USA
Vito Acconci attended Regis High School.
1 College St, Worcester, MA 01610, United States
Acconci completed his studies at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in literature in 1962.
Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
In 1964 Vito Acconci obtained a Master of Fine Arts in literature and poetry, after finishing his education at the University of Iowa.
1977
Vito Acconci’s Feet.
1984
Vito Acconci, New York City.
2005
Vito Acconci next to his work Abstract House (2004), part of Vito Hannibal Acconci Studio exhibition, Atlantic Centre of Modern Art (in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (April 2005).
Vito Acconci.
14 Old Chapel Rd, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA
In January 1983 Vito Acconci was a visiting professor at Middlebury College.
Vito Acconci inside one of his modules for Project for Klapper Hall, from 1993-1995.
Vito Acconci in his later years.
Vito Acconci and Ai Weiwei discussing their collaboration.
Vito Acconci and Ai Weiwei.
In one of his best-known early works, Following Piece, from 1969, he spent each day for almost a month following a person picked at random on the streets of Manhattan.
Vito Acconci.
Vito Acconci.
1977
Vito Acconci’s Feet.
1984
Vito Acconci, New York City.
2005
Vito Acconci next to his work Abstract House (2004), part of Vito Hannibal Acconci Studio exhibition, Atlantic Centre of Modern Art (in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (April 2005).
Vito Acconci.
55 E 84th St, New York, NY 10028, USA
Vito Acconci attended Regis High School.
1 College St, Worcester, MA 01610, United States
Acconci completed his studies at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in literature in 1962.
Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
In 1964 Vito Acconci obtained a Master of Fine Arts in literature and poetry, after finishing his education at the University of Iowa.
14 Old Chapel Rd, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA
In January 1983 Vito Acconci was a visiting professor at Middlebury College.
Vito Acconci inside one of his modules for Project for Klapper Hall, from 1993-1995.
Vito Acconci in his later years.
Vito Acconci and Ai Weiwei discussing their collaboration.
Vito Acconci and Ai Weiwei.
In one of his best-known early works, Following Piece, from 1969, he spent each day for almost a month following a person picked at random on the streets of Manhattan.
Vito Acconci.
Vito Acconci.
Vito Acconci.
architect artist designer sculptor
Acconci was born on January 24, 1940, in Bronx, New York, United States. His father, Hamilc Acconci, was a bathrobe manufacturer. His mother, Chiara, also known as Catherine, worked as a school cafeteria attendant.
Vito Acconci attended a Roman Catholic elementary school, transferring then to Regis High School in New York City, and later to college. He completed his studies at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts,receiving his Bachelor of Arts in literature in 1962. In 1964 he obtained a Master of Fine Arts in literature and poetry, after finishing his education at the University of Iowa.
Acconci began producing visual art in 1969, after originally focusing on writing and poetry. He used his own body as a subject for photography, video, film, and performance. Between 1970 and 1974, the artist performed a series of activities, including Broad Jump ‘71, staged at the Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was a jumping competition for male contestants vying for a woman as the winning prize. Acconci’s early works and performances often had social commentary.
His performance piece which is one of Acconci’s most notable and disgraceful works, Seedbed (1971), positioned the artist beneath a wooden ramp installed at the Sonnabend Gallery, where he masturbated, for eight hours a day over a three-week period, while vocalizing into a loudspeaker his fantasies about the visitors walking above him on the ramp. The artist explained that idea of the performance was to involve the public in the work's production by creating a situation of mutual exchange between artist and viewer.
Cindy Nemser became the first art critic to write an article about Acconci for Arts Magazine in 1971. Later Nemser did an interview with Acconci which was the cover piece for the magazine.
In the 1980s, Acconci dedicated himself to sculptural works as well as installation pieces. In 1980 he created an installation entitled Instant House. In January 1983 Vito Acconci was a visiting professor at Middlebury College. Concurrently, he completed Way Station I (Study Chamber), which was his first permanent installation. The work was criticized and eventually set on fire and destroyed in 1985.
Vito Acconci moved from performance artist to architectural designer. He produced furniture made from uncustomary materials, for instance, his Garbage Seating (1986) was made from trash cans, soil, and tree branches. In 1988 the artist became one of the co-founders of Acconci Studio, which focused on theoretical design and building.
Acconci and his Brooklyn-based studio were commissioned by New York’s Metro Transit Authority to produce installations within subway stations. Wall-Slide (2002), installed in the 161st Street Yankee Stadium station, and made from stone, tile, and fiberglass. Acconci designed the United Bamboo store in Tokyo in 2003. Besides, he collaborated on concept designs for interactive art vehicle Mister Artsee in 2006, including the highly acclaimed: Murinsel in Graz, Austria.
Acconci’s works were exhibited in a variety of venues, including the Barbara Gladstone Gallery and The Museum of Modern Art in New York. One of his later works, Lobby-for-the-Time-Being, was an installation in the North Wing Lobby of Bronx Museum of the Arts. In 2010, he presented his Waterfall Out & In, a water feature at the visitors' center of the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
In addition to his career as an artist, he taught at multiple institutions, such as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, San Francisco Art Institute, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University, and the Parsons School of Design.
Vito Acconci was the founder of the Performance Art movement, one of the great artists, architects, and makers of the Post-Pop era. He has been immortalized in the history of art for his seminal works, including the infamous Seedbed. His works have influenced such artists as Karen Finley, Laurie Anderson, Bruce Nauman, and Tracey Emin, among others.
Room Situation
Notes on Movement II (Body as Place)
Corrections
Following Piece
Nov. 22, 1969; City Series
Lay of the Land
Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery (The Seventh Commandment)
Blown-up Baby Doll (6 Triangle Version)
3 Flags for 1 Space and 6 Regions
The Selling of Five Americans and a Place for One World Citizen
Trade Marks (in 2 parts)
King's Cross, Summer 2010
Quotations:
"The idea of a changing environment suggests that if your environment changes all the time, then maybe your ideas will change all the time. I think architecture should have loose ends. This might be another problem with Modernism - it’s too complete within itself."
"I wish we could make buildings that could constantly explode and come back in different ways."
Vito Acconci saw himself not as a stalker but as an unmoored soul searching for a direction.
Vito Acconci was married to the artist Rosemary Mayer in the 1960s. Later he remarried a woman named Maria.
