Vito Acconci

Vito Acconci January 24 1940 April 27 2017 was an American performance video and installation artist whose diverse practice eventually included sculpture architectural design and landscape design His performance and video art was characterized by existential unease exhibitionism discomfort transgression and provocation as well as wit and audacity and often involved crossing boundaries such as publicprivate consensualnonconsensual and real worldart world His work is considered to have influenced artists including Laurie Anderson Karen Finley Bruce Nauman and Tracey Emin among others Acconci was initially interested in radical poetry creating 0 to 9 Magazine but by the late 1960s he began creating Situationistinfluenced performances in the street or for small audiences that explored the body and public space Two of his most famous pieces were Following Piece 1969 in which he selected random passersby on New York City streets and followed them for as long as he was able and Seedbed 1972 in which he claimed that he masturbated while under a temporary floor at the Sonnabend Gallery as visitors walked above and heard him speaking In the late1970s he turned to sculpture architecture and design greatly increasing the scale of his work if not his art world profile Over the next two decades he developed public artworks and parks airport rest areas artificial islands and other architectural projects that frequently embraced participation change and playfulness Notable works of this period include Personal Island designed for Zwolle the Netherlands 1994 Walkways Through the Wall at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee WI 1998 and Murinsel for Graz Austria 2003 Retrospectives of Acconcis work have been organized by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam 1978 and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1980 and his work is in numerous public collections including those of the Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art He has been recognized with fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts 1976 1980 1983 1993 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 1979 and American Academy in Rome 19866 In addition to his art and design work Acconci taught at many higher learning institutions Acconci died on April 27 2017 in Manhattan at age 77