Acconci, Old, Refreshed and Re-viewed

Date: 20 September 1997 - 10 January 1998

On the occasion of the completion of Park in the Water at the Haagse Hogeschool, Acconci, together with the assistants from his Studio, designed a special installation to show his videotapes and films-on-video. Black painted ‘headtheatres' were attached to the columns in the space. To watch the tapes, one could sit on bicycle saddles mounted to rods. A small film theatre was set up in the lower space with wooden ‘seating', arranged so that one person could sit and watch the film while facing another, and the person next to him/her would be sitting and watching the film in the opposite direction.
What makes Acconci so special and therefore still inspiring today is that he did not use video as a medium to document but involved the viewer directly in his intimacies and aggression. He uses the monitor like a window to the outside world and thus makes his very personal views public. Especially younger artists, now emphasizing the body in their work, were given the opportunity to become acquainted with Acconci's investigation of the ‘I', the ‘other' and the space in between from the sixties and seventies.

Acconci installed the videowork ‘Fresh Acconci' by Paul McCarthy & Mike Kelley as a big projection of the glass door and window of the entrance of the exhibition space. ‘Fresh Acconci' presents a remake of several of Acconci's videos. The closed character of the monitor is replaced with that of a luxurious villa. The images are taken care of, down to the last detail and the actors (m/f) are pleasing to the eye, but still, they remain just as alone together with each other as Acconci did with his partners.