‘At the beginning, setting the terms: if I specialize in a medium, I would be fixing a ground for myself, a ground I would have to be digging myself out of, constantly, as one medium was substituted for another – so, then, instead of turning toward “ground” I would shift my attention and turn to “instrument”, I would focus on myself as the instrument that acted on what ever ground was, from time to time, available.’
Body as instrument.
Instrument for “art doing” as opposed to “art experiencing”
“Art experiencing” is an assumption - a mere by-product of the completed form.
Vito Acconci, Step Piece, 1970.
102 Christopher Street; four months (February–April–July–November), 1970; 8AM each day.
Daily training makes for daily improvement.
The activity is left open; it is, in principle, a public performance.
Vito Acconci Steps into Performance (and Out) (1979)
1. Into Action
Excerpts taken from Theories and documents of Contemporary Art, Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz.
No comments:
Post a Comment