Neato Acconci

Vito Acconci: Writings, Works, Projects by Gloria Moure is my favorite inspirational book that I've checked out from the library. Vito Acconci does weird things - even weirder than I could have imagined. The most useful chapters were about bodies and the use of his own body in his art.

Here are some particularly enjoyable pages that I thought were helpful in terms of research for my own experiments:

This is a video of Vito moving his arm in front of his face until it presses up against his skin; explores space and boundaries, containment

In this piece Vito puts his face in a bowl of soap. explores discomfort, control

Vito has his mail forwarded to a museum display. Kind of cool and weird voyeuristic.

Other experiments not pictured but still notable are ones in which he is blindfolded and has balls thrown at him and ones in which he leaves deep bite marks on his skin.

Vito Acconci, to me, is a contemporary artist creating works at the forefront of the question of what can and can't be considered art, which I am immensely interested in exploring as a student.