Painters & Visual Artists Codexery

Vito Acconci

Installation and performance artist.

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Vito Acconci

Sailko · CC BY-SA 4.0

Vito Acconci was an American artist who worked in performance, video, installation, sculpture, architecture, and landscape design.[1] His performance and video art was known for existential unease, exhibitionism, transgression, and wit.[2] Vito Acconci was 77 years old when he passed away on April 27, 2017.[1]

Installation of habitable nooks by Vito Acconci outside Klapper Hall at Queens College
Installation of habitable nooks by Vito Acconci outside Klapper Hall at Queens College. Image: Peachseltzer · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Last updated 2026-09-28 from the source article.

Life and work

In 1972 he created Seedbed, where he masturbated under a temporary floor at the Sonnabend Gallery while visitors walked above.[3][4] He founded Acconci Studio in 1988, which focused on theoretical design and building.[5] The artist, whose full name was Vito Hannibal Acconci, came into the world in 1940 in the Bronx, New York.[6] During the late 1960s, Acconci and Bernadette Mayer jointly edited the mimeograph magazine 0 TO 9, which was produced in runs of 100 to 350 copies per issue.[7]

Starting in the late 1970s, Acconci shifted his practice toward sculpture, architecture, and design, producing public artworks and parks, airport rest areas, and artificial islands.[8] During the 1960s, Acconci was wed to artist Rosemary Mayer; later in life he married Maria Acconci, who survived him.[9][10]

Vito1973
Vito1973. Image: Valueyou ( talk ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What the cited sources add

A 2012 Daily Beast profile notes that Acconci was named Designer of the Year by Design Miami.[11] The profile describes Acconci's Klein Bottle Playground as a Design Miami commission for the host city.[11] It also notes that Acconci collaborated with Steven Holl on the Storefront for Art and Architecture in 1993.[11] According to the same source, Acconci explained his departure from fine art by saying he was "much more interested in the non-art user."[11]

Acconci reported that his studio experienced "amazing money troubles" during its final years.[11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Vito Acconci" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Russeth, "Vito Acconci, Whose Poetic, Menacing Work Forms Bedrock of Performance, Video Art, Dies at 77", ARTnews, 28 April 2017; Kennedy, "Vito Acconci, Performance Artist and Uncommon Architect, Dies at 77", The New York Times, April 28, 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Vito Acconci" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Scott, "Postscript: Vito Acconci, 1940–2017", April 28, 2017; Kennedy, "Vito Acconci, Performance Artist and Uncommon Architect, Dies at 77", The New York Times, April 28, 2017; Capps, "Vito Acconci and the Shelf Life of Sensational Art", The Atlantic, May 3, 2017; "Vito Acconci, Guggenheim Collection Online", Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Capps, "Vito Acconci and the Shelf Life of Sensational Art", The Atlantic, May 3, 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Vito Acconci" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Seedbed, Vito Acconci, The Met Collection Online", Metropolitan Museum of New York (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Vito Acconci" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tate, "'SEEDBED', Vito Acconci, 1972 – Tate", Tate; Zhong, "Revisiting Vito Acconci's 5 Most Infamous—and Transgressive—Performance Art Works", 28 April 2017; Jones, "See Through, Vito Acconci (1969)", the Guardian, 23 November 2002; "Vito Acconci", Ediciones Poligrafa, 2001, p. 154; "Vito Acconci. Seedbed. 1972 – MoMA", The Museum of Modern Art; "Vito Acconci – Seedbed – The Met", The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Vito Acconci" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Donadio, Emmie. "Vito Acconci's Way Station at Middlebury: A Turning Point in the Artists Career." Vito Acconci: Thinking Space. Middlebury College Museum of Ar; Donadio, Emmie. "Vito Acconci's Way Station at Middlebury: A Turning Point in the Artists Career." Vito Acconci: Thinking Space. Middlebury College Museum of Ar; Donadio, Emmie. "Vito Acconci's Way Station at Middlebury: A Turning Point in the Artists Career." Vito Acconci: Thinking Space. Middlebury College Museum of Ar (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Vito Acconci" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gopnik, "Vito Acconci Named Designer of the Year by Design Miami", The Daily Beast, October 24, 2012; "The Class of 1962: Seniors", Purple Patcher, 1962, p. 194; "The Class of 1962: Seniors", Purple Patcher, 1962, p. 194 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Vito Acconci" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vito Acconci, "Language to Cover a Page: The Early Writings of Vito Acconci", MIT Press, 2006, p. 12–; "Vito Acconci and Bernadette Mayer - 0 to 9 : The Complete Magazine : 1967-1969"; Terence Diggory, "Encyclopedia of the New York School Poets", Infobase Learning, 22 April 2015, p. 20– (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Vito Acconci" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kennedy, "Vito Acconci, Performance Artist and Uncommon Architect, Dies at 77", The New York Times, April 28, 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Vito Acconci" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Bernadette Mayer on Rosemary Mayer (1943–2014)", www.artforum.com, 9 December 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Vito Acconci" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Davis, "Vito Acconci, Transgressive Progenitor of Performance Art, Dies at 77", artnet, 28 April 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Gopnik, "Vito Acconci Named Designer of the Year by Design Miami", The Daily Beast, October 24, 2012. facts only, no text reused. thedailybeast.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Vito Acconci (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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