Vito arch

The first time I heard Vito Acconci speak was at the International Sculpture Conference, early 80’s in Oakland. His energy was contagious and I was hooked.
Then it was sometime around 2002-2003 I heard him speak at MOCA LA and I learnt more about his architecture and philosophy.

Last night I heard him again and at the age of 70 you still feel his energy. Each time I have heard him speak his style of speak has been different. In the early 80’s was laced with profanity, particularly ‘fuck’, as every third or forth word. The second time the use of the word fuck diminished drastically, but was still present. This time it was used once, and I noticed his speak flowed much more than previously.

Notes I took:
Set up rules, not what the piece would look like.
Tie work into the world.
Interaction between me and the viewer, setting up condition of I and you.
Viewer = visitor
Not to think about a piece until there is a space.
Piece not repeatable, specific to space, situation, people.
Found something wrong in most pieces, leading to next piece.
Architecture is the opportunity to work with others, public, and space.
Project starts with general ides, then the design studio works as a discussion.
4-5 people don’t necessarily think better, but they do think more than 1 person.
Desire to not have viewers, instead have users, participants.
Design instead of art, everyday use.
Building use changes over time.
Architecture that can change, users change.
Architecture is behind, by the time it’s built the world has moved on, it takes too long.
Architecture and music are the same.
People know architecture because the experience it.
Operations of architecture 1-18.
Operation 1 – Make a world. Then poke a hole in it. An architecture of worlds.
Operation 2 – Overlay, screening, camoflauge. A second skin.
Operation 4 – Continuous surface, endless space.
Operation 8 – Stretch. Tentacles and feelers. An architecture of landscape.
Operation 12 – Portable architecture. Mobile architecture.
I did not write them all down, now I will need to find them.

I would have liked to talk to him about the possibility for architecture to be temporary, modeled using Cradle to Cradle principles. In 10-20 years structures would be taken down, and totally recycled or composted. This would free designers, and not burden owners with retrofits and adaptive reuse issues.

It is very inspiring to witness the transformation of a person's art. And then there is a self validation from a  feeling of being connected to their process, of where they have been, and where they are going. I am a little behind Vito Acconci, but I know I can get to where my art needs to be.

There is something inexplicable about hearing him speak. It is not difficult at all to stay there and listen. He shares so much and is very open. Thank you Vito Acconci.