Vito Acconci (b. 1940)
Vito Acconci (b. 1940)

Reception Room (Modern Art Agency, Naples, March 1973)

Details
Vito Acconci (b. 1940)
Reception Room (Modern Art Agency, Naples, March 1973)
signed, titled and dated 'Vito Acconci RECEPTION ROOM (Modern Art Agency, Naples, March 1973)' (lower edge of the first element)
four elements--gelatin silver and color coupler prints, acetate and wax pencil on board
each: 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm.)
Executed in 1973. (4)
Provenance
Sonnabend, New York
Literature
M. Diacono, Vito Acconci dal Testo-Azione al Corpo come Testo, London 1975, pp. 200-208 (illustrated)
Exhibited
Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Vito Acconci: A Retrospective: 1969-1980, March-May 1980, pp. 18-19 (illustrated)

Lot Essay

The entrance corridor is a narrow passsageway into the main room of the gallery. On the floor, along the side wall, is placed a rug, a cushion at each end. At each cushion is an audio speaker: on one, there's my voice in English-on the other, an Italian voice translating my words but changing the person, referring to me as "he".

The main room of the gallery is built so that, in the center, a partial wall extends down from the ceiling, one-third of the way toward the floor. Fixed to the bottom edge of this overhang, then, there's a spotlight; the spotlight shines down on a large table, four feet by eight feet; on top of the table is a mattress, and a white sheet; around the table are four high stools, places for viewers. The table has the feel of an examination table, an operating table: I'm lying on the mattress, partially covered by the sheet-I'm turning over, constantly, regularly, from one side to the other-when I turn over the side, one leg is exposed-when I turn over on the other side, my leg and my ass are exposed. In the backround, there's an audiotape: my voice in English and, before I speak, an Italian voice translating what I'm saying but referring to me in the third person, the way an authority figure, a doctor, might refer to me.

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