Advanced Sculpture, 2014

Project 3: Interactivity
ARTIST RESEARCH

Vito Hannibal Acconci: Art that provokes

Vito Hannibal Acconci gained international recognition for his provocative and influential art work during the 1960-1980s. Acconci is an American designer who has a strong interest in working in the performance arts, landscape architecture and installation.  "...his confrontational and ultimately political works have evolved from writing through conceptual art, bodyworks, performance, film, video, multimedia installation and architectural sculpture (Electronic Art Intermix)".  Acconci has been working in the contemporary arts since the 1960s, and later in 1980s he directed his focus toward working with architecture and design projects. Acconci, through his performance pieces, has a strong need to interact with the audience, whether it be through a camera or in a public or private space.

In Acconci's work there is a strong sense and need for interactivity with his audience and viewers. In his early works from the 1970s, Theme Song and Undertone, he directly engaged the audience with his own state and self. In Theme Song, the artist sings to his audience, staring directly into the camera, straight at the viewer. He speaks of the act of staring and how the person who is watching is seeing. He personally confronts and engages with the viewer directly, as if he is developing a personal relationship with the viewer. In the performance piece Undertone, the artist sits at a table and in a monotone voice, expresses an erotic fantasy. The camera is positioned at the other side of the table where the viewer is put into a position as a part of the experience.  Acconci switches between direct dialogue between the viewer and himself. Jerry Saltz stated, "he's always trying to get inside other people's skins and psyches." Saltz expresses how the artist interacts with his audience in Claim, "where he sat blindfolded in a basement swinging a lead pipe at intruders while repeating threatening phrases" and in Project for Pier 17, where the artist stood on a pier at night confessing to anyone who came near him. What happens between him and the viewer physically and mentally is the artwork.

Another interest of the artist is the idea of the public and the private in relation with social interaction and the self. What makes Acconci's work so personal is not only the way in which he addresses his audience, but also what he does and says. He doesn't mind expressing ideas about sexuality to provoke the viewer.  In Undertone, he talks to the viewer about a fantasy and in the performance piece, Seedbed 1972, the artist lies under a ramp masturbating. In an interview with Shelley Jackson, about his Seedbed performance piece, the artist stated, "Masturbating under the floor is a private activity. Moving around under the space where people are walking, concentrating on viewers’ footsteps, and using the footsteps as an impetus to a sexual fantasy, that maybe turns the private into public." In one of Acconci's most notable works, Following Piece 1969, the artist selected a person by random on the streets of New York and followed them until the person reached a private place. He stated in a paper that this ranged from between two to three minutes when someone got into a car to seven to eight hours where someone went into a restaurant or a movie. By following a person and setting up guidelines to when it ended, he developed a relationship between public and private places. Jp McMahon stated in his article, "Following Piece was concerned with the language of our bodies, not so much in a private manner, but in a deeply public manner."

Acconci is an artist who has broken away from normal, comfortable artwork in a gallery, and has shown the art world something completely new. His pieces provoke, inspire, engaged and leave the viewer or audience in an uncomfortable position.  Acconci's ability to react with and address the audience, whether it be through the public or private in his works, is what makes him a great performance artist.

                  Acconci, Vito H. "Walker Art Center." Vito Acconci. Jstore, 1983. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Jackson, Shelley. "The Believer - Shelley Jackson Talks with Vito Acconci." The Believer. N.p., Jan. 2007. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
McMahon, JP. "Vito Acconci's Following Piece." Conceptual ArtAcconci's Following Piece. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
N/A. "Vito Acconci." Electronic Arts Intermix : : Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Saltz, Jerry. "Artnet.com Magazine Features - Vito De Milo." Artnet.com Magazine Features - Vito De Milo. N.p., May 2004. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Krzysztof Wodiczko: Projections of Healing

Krzysztof Wodiczko is a Polish artist whose medium is large scale projections on buildings and monuments. His subject matter includes the projection of faces, hands and other body parts of people who went through or had experience with traumatizing events. He works in building relationships between the homeless, veterans, and people affected by war, violence, or loss, to help them tell their stories through his art (Kobialka). "[His] works, he transforms the stories, voices, and gestures of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances by projecting them onto public monuments and landmarks (ICA Boston)". The artist uses these buildings not only as canvases, but also thinks about their locations, meanings and how they interrelate to the subject matter that he is displaying upon them. In his work, Wodiczko focuses on very intense subject matter such as violence, death, or murder, through the person who has experienced these events first hand. Through his work, he hopes to heal wounds by speaking of what is "unspoken", in order to help other people understand what these people have gone through and to possibly make sure that the event never happens again.

In Wodiczko’s work there is a great deal of symbolism. In his projection projects The Veteran Project and Bunker Hill Monument, he uses the symbolism of the single flame.  The Veteran Project is an "immersive chronicle … based on the artist’s contact with medics, soldiers and refugees affected by the current conflict in Iraq (ICA Boston)". In a video of the artist speaking about his work, he stated that the single flame symbolizes those who died and suffered from war (Krzysztof Wodiczko: Veterans' Flame). In the Bunker Hill Monument, a projection of the imagery of the 'eternal' flame was repeated again to represent those who were murdered in the Churchtown area. The artist wanted to communicate a message about the "highest rate of unsolved murders in the metropolitan area," (Shulman). "...Wodiczko focuses attention on ways in which architecture and monuments reflect collective memory and history" (Art21). In this piece, the artist related this monument’s history to the relevance of loss felt by of those in surrounding areas, saying “The battle continues…still in life” (Art21 video).

Through his artwork the artist’s intention is to help those who have experienced traumatic events to speak and to have their voices heard. Wodiczko expresses, in his Art21 video piece, that his work has a psychological toll. He speaks about how difficult it is to hear the words being said within his work that it might trigger memories of traumatic events to others and even to himself. At a young age the artist suffered his own experiences. "Wodiczko has been deeply affected by the devastation of war and violence all his life" (Art21). Since the artist empathizes with those who have been scarred by these events he has a need to help others by creating art to help heal and move on. Wodiczko stated that he hopes in the future there will not be a need for this kind of art.  The artist explains that he makes numerous sketches before completing his work. He says that he wants to make sure the architecture and the person being projected integrate correctly, but it is also is a way of detaching himself from the work (Art21 video).

Krzysztof Wodiczko is an established artist who has had his work shown in many countries including Germany, Australia, Canada, Spain and others. He has won numerous awards for his work as well as recognition in the art world. Through his use of digital media he has created and is still creating a way to express violent events and injustices throughout the world, in hopes that they never happen again.

                  "Krzysztof Wodiczko | Art21 | PBS." Krzysztof Wodiczko | Art21 | PBS. PBS, 2013. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. <http://ec2-75-101-145-29.compute-1.amazonaws.com/art21/artists/krzysztof-wodiczko>.
                  "Krzysztof Wodiczko ... OUT OF HERE: THE VETERANS PROJECT" ICA. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/exhibit/wodiczko/>.
                  Krzysztof Wodiczko: Veterans' Flame. Prod. Krzysztof Wodiczko. 2009. Youtube Video.
                  "SEGMENT: Krzysztof Wodiczko in "Power"" PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/art21/watch-now/segment-krzysztof-wodiczko-in-power>.
                  Kobialka, Michal. "Art and Commitment." Art and Commitment. N.p., 2 Dec. 2004. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://artandcommitment.umn.edu/wodiczko.html>.
                  Shulman, Ken. "A Monument to Mothers and Lost Children." The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Sept. 1998. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/20/arts/art-a-monument-to-mothers-and-lost-children.html>.