"Let's get into Physical!" - Performance & Physicality in Conceptual Art


One of the performative artist’s from the course who I feel best represents the notion of the art genre “performative art”, is Vito Acconci. Through analysing selected Acconci works and works by other later contributing performance artists, it will become clear as to where the genre first originated what performative arts and artist’s aims were, and therefore provide an understanding as to how it gave rise to the making of “conceptual art”.
So what is performative art, and how is it that this mode of art was a fundamental idea in the movement into conceptual art? In performance art, the key word is “performance”, this is the medium in which the art takes place; whether it is the artist’s body acting as the canvas or carrying out actions in a particular space at a particular moment in time.  So where did this idea first originate? The concept of performance art has been attributed various origins, all of which contributed in the shifts leading up to performance art. One artist whom was said to have played a major role in catalysing the notion of performance art was Abstract Impressionist, Jackson Pollock. It wasn’t so much the painting aspect of his work but rather the element of movement he practiced whilst painting. A series of photos were produced in 1950, snap shots which capture the notion of action in a particular space and time.  However the interest of the “theatrical performance” within art lies in the 1960’s, which saw the emergence of the performance art of Vito Acconci. Acconci’s artistic career emerged through his love of poetry.  The letters and words on the page meant more to him, like they were works of art in themselves, otherwise known as conceptual writing. This is when Acconci began to play with the idea of language and the deliverance of speech, in a series of recorded poetry pieces. Though Acconci sought to expand his artistic field, thus creating works of art in a performative style. However it is through chronologically analysing some of his key works, that we shall gain an informed understanding as to what performative art is, its concepts and its progression as an art genre.  

The notion of physicality is imperative to Acconci’s work; however this idea was experimented through his art, in an ascending fashion, with various performative mediums being explored.  A rather public project called “following piece”, 1969[1], in which Acconci followed a certain individual for one day up until the person entered a private place was a public work taken place in an open space, in the streets.  The individual was unaware of their following and therefore had complete control as to where Acconci would travel about the street, giving the subject the dominant role. Acconci recorded his individual’s actions in the form of a report, so in essence, the actual finished product is indeed non performative art, but the execution of the preliminary work indeed was peformative. Acconci’s piece named “trademarks”, 1970[2], is a prime example of what performative art entails. Instead of being in a public place, as with his following piece, Acconci sets himself in a private enclosed area for this work, which is interesting in relation to what he then does. His intention is to create a mark of shifting identity, which is unique of him, but has to be made available to others; he does this through performative implication.  He attempts to bite himself all over his body, in as many places as he can reach. He refers to the bites as a target being placed upon his body, he explains, “I can shift the focus – apply printers ink to the bites so they can be made available, I can point out other targets by stamping bite prints on paper, on a wall, on another body”[3].  Even though the actual performative task is straight forward, this sets up many possibilities for its reasoning or ideal behind the work. For instance, the work has been described as having connections to identity, the continuous movement of the subject, the idea of the” self” the target, boundaries. Also the onlookers gaze is a form of symbolism, a form of writing that projects itself as aggressive. This work is significant in answering the question, what does performative art mean? This piece is performative in that the action takes place, using the artist’s body as a tool; however, this action is recorded also using performance, the imprinting of the work onto other surfaces. This is also what creates the work and the context behind it.

The first piece of performative art by Acconci I shall analyse is a film piece called “Pryings”, 1971[4]. This is a 21 minute piece of video recording that is filmed at a New York university, which features Vito Acconci himself along with a woman named Kathy Dillon. Throughout the tape, we see Acconci struggling with Dillon in a very tense way. While Acconci tries to vigorously prise open the closed eyes of Dillon, the viewer senses the artist is working with ideas of confrontation, pain, struggle, emotion and control.  It is not just the visual stimulus which the viewer has access to, the audio of the recording helps to emphasise emotion of the struggle; this is evident through Acconci’s progressively heavy breathing.  This idea of tension is intensified by the camera’s viewpoint, which is very limiting to the viewer, all we are being shown is the repeated  struggle and not much beyond that point; this also emphasizes the concept of tension and a reminder that the movement of the bodies and the bodies themselves are the medium of the art.  Here we begin to realise that this type of art is dependent upon the viewers perception and its sole purpose is to revoke emotion by giving the audience material that is impossible to ignore, we become drawn into the situation.
 Now we have seen what Acconci is trying to create in his performative art by using this type of recording plus the body as the artistic medium.  Moving on in Acconci’s career, different themes and concepts are introduced to us through his range of installations, it is interesting to note each piece as a new experiment of physicality, movement and emotional response. A piece he created in 1973 entitled “Theme song”[5], is based on the idea, like “Pryings”, tension between two people. Although this is a different kind of tension, more like a seductive confrontation. He uses dialogue in terms of him himself, and in turn replies as if someone is face to face with him, which metaphorically speaking is obviously the camera. This is where the dynamic is set up, again relying on the audience to become involved with the sequence, we are meant to be there in some sense, and the camera is significant of the viewer. The perspective that the viewer gets is very full on, it is almost uncomfortable. We see Acconci lying on a floor smoking a cigarette, with the camera focusing on his face and his body, (again reminding the viewer that he is the medium used in this performative art), aligned slightly horizontally in front of the camera in an extreme close up to create intimacy between the artist and viewer. His monologue is accompanied by music playing in the background, which in brief interludes, Acconci sings along to verses and saying “look I’m all alone, I’m depressed you can leave me like this, I need you to take care of me”, as well as using the rhetoric “why not”, creating suggestion towards the viewer. But of course, the viewer is unknown to Acconci, and vice versa. With Acconci making these suggestions in a very seductive manner, he is also commenting on the idea of trust between strangers, 'you could be anybody out there’.  However, Acconci builds up the tension filled relationship through suggestion and strong engagement through the piece, but then destroys all illusion and connection when saying 'I can feel your body right next to me...I know I'm only kidding myself...You're not here'. This piece deals with the concept of situations, which heavily involves the viewer. It is ultimately a situation in which anyone of us could be in, and Acconci experiments with this, questioning and testing the viewer, making them think.

So what was next in the genre of performative art? How did Acconci’s works influence other artists to create works in a similar fashion and ultimately break into the emerging conceptual art movement? If we are sure of one thing, it would be that Acconci was influential to the progression of the performative, conceptual art movement. Of course, with the importance put upon the body as the art medium, it was vital for the art to become widely publicised and available to people, through the use of recorded video, photography and film.  With New York being a strong pioneer of performance art, it was not long before Europe recognised this movement, and made performative art progress to other branches such as conceptual art. An example of an established European performance artist with an influence of Acconci would be Marina Abramović.  Her career began in the 1970s, the pinnacle of Acconci’s performance art years. From 1965-70 Abramović studied at the Academy of fine arts in Belgrade[6].  Her art focuses on the human mind, the limitations of both body and mind, and as a performative artist; the relationships created between the artists and viewer.  She too has a sense of danger about her work, and tests herself to the point of physical pain. By looking at some of her selected works, some early and some more recent, we can see whether Acconci’s performative work, did have influence upon new artists within the movement.  One of Abramović’s early works named Rhythm 10, 1973[7], sees her align twenty knives in front of her, take a knife and starts to play the game five finger fillets. She keeps playing until she cuts herself, in which case, she picks up a new knife, resulting in being cut twenty times. All the while two cameras record the piece. This is a clever piece of performative art, because it evokes a raw emotion from the viewer, making you tense and on edge, and ultimately what Abramović set put to do, push the limits of the human body (of the artist) and mental state of both the artist and viewer. Abramović then experiments with the idea of replication, by replaying the recording and replicating the movements and sounds, playing with the idea of time; past and present. Another key point to address is the element of repetition. Throughout all of the performative pieces we have looked at, this is a reoccurring theme.  A later work by Abramović called Seven Easy Pieces, 2005[8], which occurred during a whole week; Abramović recreated works from prestigious performative artists, including the likes of Bruce Numan, Vito Acconci, Gina pane as well as two works of her own.

After looking at some key works, events and the emergence and progression of performative art as a movement, we have been able to explain the key concepts and methods of performative art.  We have seen what is involved when creating this type of work and how the audience is a key part of the whole performative experience. It seems that performative art is based upon ideas of the self, human limits whether it is the body and mind, but ultimately the reaction evoked within the viewer. Sometimes the visual can be so shocking or surreal, that a lasting impression is made. Some will say that this is the most raw and interesting works of art. Vito Acconci’s ideas were considerably influential to future performative artists which saw the emergence of new, bigger ideas that lead to a new artistic branch, conceptual art.


[1]Following Acconci, Targeting Vision, Christine Poggi. Pg 259
[2] Following Acconci, Targeting Vision, Christine Poggi. Pg 261

[3] Following Acconci, Targeting Vision, Christine Poggi. Pg 260

[4] http://www.ubu.com/film/acconci_pryings.html
[5] http://www.ubu.com/film/acconci_theme.html
[6] http://www.artnet.com/artist/1202/marina-abramovic.html
[7] http://www.artnet.com/artist/1202/marina-abramovic.html
[8] http://www.seveneasypieces.com

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