Twelve Pictures
Vito Acconci American
Not on view
After the house lights went down, Acconci crossed a darkened stage (from right to left) over the course of three minutes and periodically took flash photographs; the members of the audience did not realize that their jaded, uncomfortable, and giddy responses to his invisible transit were the substance of the work. Like contemporaries Dan Graham and Chris Burden, Acconci applied the systems and tasklike processes of Minimalism to real-time, body-oriented performances that blurred the lines between private and public, artist and audience. The artist Robert Smithson can be seen seated in the second row on the aisle.
