Vito Acconci

Vito Acconci’s subversive, boundary-pushing practice largely centered on ephemeral concepts such as language, sexuality, and bodily movement. His works, which spanned poetry, criticism, performance, sound, film, photography, and sculpture, featured numerous provocations: Throughout his career, the artist bit himself, burned off his body hair, and narrated fantasies about gallery visitors over a loudspeaker—all in the name of art. Other, tamer works documented Acconci’s movement through space via photography or video. In the 1970s, the artist expanded his spatial investigations into the realms of furniture design and architecture. Beginning in the 1980s, Acconci ran his own design and architecture firm with his wife, Maria. The artist’s work has been exhibited at intuitions including the Stedelijk Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. He produced public installations for colleges and airports and made floating pieces for bodies of water in Austria and the Netherlands.