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Vito Acconci. [Cultural Space Pieces 1970-1978]. Exhibition catalogue, Kunstmuseum Luzern, May 7 - June 11, 1978. Edited by Martin Kunz. Texts: Vito Acconci. Foreword and interviews with Vito Acconci by Martin Kunz. Lucerne: Kunstmuseum Luzern, 1978.
160 unnumbered pages : black and white illustrations ; 23.8 x 17 cm.
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160 unnumbered pages : black and white illustrations ; 23.8 x 17 cm.
This catalog documents Vito Acconci’s sprawling exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Luzern in 1978, which included a major site-specific installation as well as photographs - taken by the artist himself - of thematically related shows that had been presented in Bologna, Bordeaux, and other European cities as well as at various locations in New York, PS1 and Sonnabend Gallery among them, between 1974 and 78. In the late 1960s, Acconci had surfaced as a radical poet whose words examined the physical space of the page. A few years later he became a pioneer of Body Art, Video Art, and sound installations, which would culminate in his so-called “Cultural Space Pieces” that infused architecture with history, politics, and poetry. In Lucerne, Acconci bisected the main exhibition hall with two leaning walls that reached all the way from the floor to the ceiling. This V-shaped structure - imposing yet seemingly unstable - disrupted the flow of traffic, forcing viewers to find their way. It also concealed a luminous source, visible only as a slender strip of light at the very top, as well as four loudspeakers from which Acconci’s voice emerged: under the title “Asylum (all the others seek asylum)” he had written fragmented texts that indirectly referred to Switzerland’s tradition of granting asylum to political refugees, and he had then recorded these words in the country’s four national languages. The book’s unnumbered, approximately 200 pages contain the complete transcript, which the artist had arranged on the page in a scheme reminiscent of a musical score. These visualizations of the spoken word are part of the black & white photographic renditions that Acconci had created of his installations, sketches, technical data, and architectural plans. Apart from the architectural intervention, these photographs constituted the visual part of the multi-media exhibition and make up the core of the catalog under the heading Cultural Space Pieces 1974-1978. A conversation between Martin Kunz and Vito Acconci in English and German precedes this section and a bio and bibliography can be found at the end.
This catalogue describes and documents the first exhibition to be held in a European museum (in 1978, at Kunstmuseum Luzern, previous to the exhibition, often and erroneously presented as the first, at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum) by the American artist Vito Acconci, who at the end of the 1960s was among the first to explore the frontiers of Body Art, Video Art, and sound installations. The catalogue includes an exhaustive documentation of all of his first installations, which consisted of structures specifically conceived for specific sites, and thus in the light of specific historical, cultural and political situations. The exhibition in Lucerne and the catalogue that accompanied it brought together all such interventions which the artist had made from the beginning of the 1970s until 1978 and entitled Cultural Space Pieces. The catalogue presents photos of the installations as well as texts in which the artist discusses them, replete with sketches, technical data and the architectural plan of the whole of the exhibition space. To complete this comprehensive documentation, unprecedented both as an installation and a publication, the artist also created a new installation—the last of his series of Cultural Space Pieces—in the largest hall of the Lucerne Museum, and entitled it Asylum (all the others seek asylum), in reference to Switzerland’s political principles and its tradition of affording asylum to political refugees. The audio text that was broadcast as a part of the installation was recorded by the artist in English, as well as in Switzerland’s three principal national languages.
The publication is completed by an interview between Vito Acconci and Martin Kunz, in English as well as in German translation.
text bei EM
The catalog describes and documents the first exhibition in Europe of American artist Vito Acconci, among the first to explore the frontiers of body art, video art, and sound installation from the late 1960s to the present. Inside the catalog, there appears a comprehensive documentation (transcript of audio pieces, installation floor plan, and interview with Vito Acconci edited by Martin Kunz) of one of his first retrospectives, entitled: "Cultural Space Pieces," enriched by a sound work entitled "Asylum (all the others seek asylum)" created by Acconci in the four Swiss national languages and specially designed for the Lucerne museum.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
This catalogue describes and documents the first exhibition to be held in a European museum (in 1978, at Kunstmuseum Luzern, previous to the exhibition, often and erroneously presented as the first, at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum) by the American artist Vito Acconci, who at the end of the 1960s was among the first to explore the frontiers of Body Art, Video Art, and sound installations. The catalogue includes an exhaustive documentation of all of his first installations, which consisted of structures specifically conceived for specific sites, and thus in the light of specific historical, cultural and political situations. The exhibition in Lucerne and the catalogue that accompanied it brought together all such interventions which the artist had made from the beginning of the 1970s until 1978 and entitled Cultural Space Pieces. The catalogue presents photos of the installations as well as texts in which the artist discusses them, replete with sketches, technical data and the architectural plan of the whole of the exhibition space. To complete this comprehensive documentation, unprecedented both as an installation and a publication, the artist also created a new installation—the last of his series of Cultural Space Pieces—in the largest hall of the Lucerne Museum, and entitled it Asylum (all the others seek asylum), in reference to Switzerland’s political principles and its tradition of affording asylum to political refugees. The audio text that was broadcast as a part of the installation was recorded by the artist in English, as well as in Switzerland’s three principal national languages.
The publication is completed by an interview between Vito Acconci and Martin Kunz, in English as well as in German translation.
text bei EM
The catalog describes and documents the first exhibition in Europe of American artist Vito Acconci, among the first to explore the frontiers of body art, video art, and sound installation from the late 1960s to the present. Inside the catalog, there appears a comprehensive documentation (transcript of audio pieces, installation floor plan, and interview with Vito Acconci edited by Martin Kunz) of one of his first retrospectives, entitled: "Cultural Space Pieces," enriched by a sound work entitled "Asylum (all the others seek asylum)" created by Acconci in the four Swiss national languages and specially designed for the Lucerne museum.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Exhibition catalogue, Kunstmuseum Luzern, May 7 - June 11, 1978. Edited by Martin Kunz. Texts: Vito Acconci. Foreword and interviews with Vito Acconci by Martin Kunz
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