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„Shoot“ Vito Acconci In the 1970s, Vito Acconci achieved a reputation through his video performances, in which he produces his own body, enacting an intense, demanding dialogue between artist and audience. In all of his performances, he demonstrates how artistic, cultural and sexual expectations and role models are inscribed in the body. “Shoot” is a parody of the connection between national and gender identity. With its cinematic flicker, “Shoot” represents a visual sustained fire, and Acconci additionally imitates sounds of machine guns and explosions. Intervening, he exposes the love-hate to his – according to the passport – American identity. He presents parts of the body to the camera: face, belly, penis, hand, which thus become performers themselves.As Acconci mimes a cowboy as well as an Indian, he has his penis say: “I am a wild American ... hide your daughters ...!” Later on, he shouts: “No, my name is Italian, my father’s name is Italian. I am not an American at all.” The performed American male subjectivity and its belligerent aggression, which Acconci also mockingly contrasts with Italy’s “tradition” and “culture”, does not only employ a cliché. Above all, Acconci protests against the national stereotypes and their psychological and physical effects on each individual. Since “Shoot” was created in 1974, it cannot be separated from the Vietnam War, which was ceased only in 1975. The childlike/childish imitation of machine guns and bombs also opposes to war propaganda which reproduces exactly these stereotypes of masculinity and national clichés. Artist, born 1940, lives and works in New York. |
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