Conversions
Acconci, Vito
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Date
1970-1971Description
Conversions 1 (Light/Reflection/Self-control). The screen is dark; there's a moving light; gradually it's apparent that the light is a candle, I'm moving the candle around in front of my body. The camera is fixed, the candle shows up parts of my body against the dark; I'm seen from the waist up. As I bring the candle in to my breast, the camera zooms in: the camera remains still as I use the candle to burn the hair off each breast and then, once my chest is hairless, as I pull each breast in a futile attempt to develop a woman's breast.
Conversions 2 (Insistence/Adaptation/Groundwork/Display). The film is a test, a series of three-minute exercises. Fized camera: I'm walking, running, jumping, beinding over, lifting my leg, doing sit-ups - all the while attempting to keep my penis 'removed,' held between my legs.
Conversions 3 (Association/Assistance/Dependence). A woman kneels behind me: I push my penis behind me, between my legs, she takes my penis into her mouth - I'm attempting to carry out the same exercises as before. (The camera shifts viewpoint here, there's an obvious camera-person, the camera-person functions as a voyeur who gives the viewer a chance to come have a closer look - when I'm seen from the front, the woman disappears behind me and I have no penis, I become the woman I've cancelled out. full view, Conversions I (Light / Reflection / Self-control)
Type of Work
Video art; Performance artSubject
Body art, Performance art, Sexism, Voyeurism, Conceptual art, Video art, Exhibitionism, Female nude in art, Male nude in art, Gender identity, Sex, Misogyny, Transsexualism, Pain, Masochism
Rights Statement
All rights reserved
Item is Part of
118884