Vito Acconci Movies

Acconci's open mouth is framed by the camera in an extreme close-up, bringing the viewer uncomfortably close. A desperate sense of strained urgency...

A super-8mm short by Vito Acconci

Contacts is one of a series of tapes in which Acconci creates a controlled performance situation to explore the limits of a private space. Applying...

Using extreme close-ups and amplified sound to force the viewer into the space of his body, he experiments with his mouth as a container for saliva,...

The back of Acconci's head is seen in tight close-up. He hums to himself, first lyrically, then aggressively, violently. Suddenly he wheels around to...

"I walk in a circle around the camera: sometimes I'm on screen, sometimes I'm off, sometimes I change direction, leaving the screen on one side and...

A super-8mm document (blown up to 16mm) of Acconci's performance of the same name where he laid flat on his stomach blindfolded on a wood platform in...

Acconci imitates the sounds of war, gunfire and explosion; he thrusts his face, stomach or penis onto the screen. His childlike battle sounds are...

In these three exercises, Acconci plays with trans-gender illusions, manipulating and altering his own body parts to suggest sexual transformations.

This early performance tape is an example of what Acconci has termed his "quasi-ESP exercises," in which he explores mental concentration and...

The final installment of the Conversions trilogy.

Acconci oftens performs controlled actions as if he had entered into a contractual agreement to test his physical limitations. In Grass/Mouth,...

The artist, sitting naked, takes water from a pot into his mouth and gargles; he spits it out onto his stomach and groin, transferring the water from...

The artist, covered in flour, tries to blow the flour off his skin.

Standing alone among beach dunes, Acconci begins to kick at the sand below him. Over the course of the film's ten minutes, this repeated action...

In 'Looking Around Piece', the performer stands before a fixed camera, which records his eye and head movements as he follows a moving object outside...

In this performance based tape, Acconci uses his body to explore notions of opening and closure.

In the late 1960s, Vito Acconci abandoned poetry in order to work with the body and its relationship with space, although he did retain a commitment...

"In another exploration of nonverbal communication, the camera moves back and forth, each time catching one of Acconci's hands in an expressive...

"In this exercise in nonverbal communication, Acconci explores facial expressions, and their psychological resonance, as a mode of performance...