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ME + VITO
performance and pdf, 2015
In October of 2015, Vito Acconci visited Richmond, VA. In response to his visit and lecture, I created a long-form performance with an accompanying text.
The text takes the form of a school handout, written as a diary entry turned prose poem. It was left on conference room tables and in offices.
An excerpt:
Myth or not, it was becoming increasingly clear that the icon that is Vito Acconci is just a man. An aging man, who made a name for himself. But his celebrity art status, the thing surrounding him that made me nervous and acutely aware of where I put my hands, we had created. VCU, the line around the block to see him, my peers and myself had all been implicit in celebrating this man who ultimately holds no authority over us. Vito Acconci is a great artist, but great on whose terms?
In the panel as I sat watching and listening to the conversation disintegrate, all I could do to maintain my own composure was to stare at Vito’s shoes. He was wearing Black Nike Air Force 1s with white old man diabetic socks. You know, the ones that increase circulation. This iconic man, wearing iconic shoes, but in all black of course. I couldn’t get over it, the hysteria he caused, the myth he was.
So I bought black Nike Air Force 1s. I wear them in hope I can be as great as Vito.