Vito Acconci

Vito Acconci came to performance art through poetry. This interesting transition was made because of a need he felt to trancend the written word on the page. Acconci felt that it was simply not enough to read his work, because his audience would be unable to know him. His most notable works, then, became both poetic, and liberating through performance. His work empowered him, as in his "Seedbed" peice, where he masturbated beneith the ramp of a museum in New York as guests walkd over head. He relincuished all power and made himself voulnerable when he performed his "Telling Secrets" Peice, in shich he met with a small audience between 1 and 2 am on a winter morning in a small dark shed and whispered his most intamate secrets to them.
To me, his most compelling peice whas his "Following Piece" in which he followed compleate strangers through public places, and mimiced their actions. His followings could last for minutes or hours depending on where his target went. Acconci would follow his target untill he or she entered what he considered to be a private space such as a home or automobile. The people he followed retained their ananemity, often only apearing to him from the back and never having a distingushable face. I can only imagine the sort of introspective details this would reveal to a person throguth conflicting manerisms.
Acconci did several of these private peices that were documented by a photographer. The subjects eing followed were never aware of Acconci's presence, so their interaction was genuine, though the target was oblivious.