Vito Acconci quotes

Vito Acconci was an American designer, architect, and artist known for his experimental and provocative work. His innovative approach blurred the boundaries between art, architecture, and public space. He influenced contemporary design with his boundary-pushing installations and urban projects. Here are 2 of his quotes:

When I thought of myself as a writer in the 1960s, I questioned what made me go from the left to the right margin, from one page to another. As I thought of the space I was also thinking about time. Then I thought: ‘Why am I limiting myself to a piece of paper when there's a world out there?' I focused on performance in the early 1970s because the common language of the time was ‘finding oneself.' In a time like that, what else could I do but turn in on myself and then go from me to you? Photography, film, and video were sidesteps–spaces in front of you–whereas I was more interested in the space where you were in the middle. Now I'm involved with peopled spaces–that's design and architecture. (Vito Acconci)

SHELLEY JACKSON: You began as a writer, moved to performance art, then architecture. I'd like to follow the traces of writing through your career, and see whether your late work could be rethought as a radically materialist practice of writing. What made you want to write? VITO ACCONCI: I wanted to be involved with the making of some kind of parallel world. I thought, there's no reason to go to different parts of our world, because you can write them. You can stay home, stay in a little room, and imagine all these worlds. And I wanted to do that. Why did I want to do that, I'm not sure if I can tell.

Vito Acconci