A mix of possible routes: BLDGBLOG speaks with Vito Acconci

A quick note before I hit the highway: I'll be interviewing Vito Acconci on Saturday, live in Reno at the Nevada Museum of Art. This will be part of the Museum's 2008 Art + Environment Conference, previously discussed here.

[Image: Vito Acconci, Blinks, Nov 23, 1969].

From an article about Acconci's work in The New York Times:
    ''My biggest fear is that architecture is necessarily a kind of totalitarian activity, a kind of prison, in that when you design a space you're probably designing people's behavior in that space,'' he says. ''So the goal of our work is to make a mix, a mix of possible routes, a mix of alternate routes, alternate channels.''
Be sure to read Shelley Jackson's interview with Acconci in The Believer, take a look at his work courtesy of Azure, and stop by another profile of the artist-architect over at designboom.

[Image: An artificial island in Austria, designed by Vito Acconci].

I'll report back with details next week (and hopefully with a transcript or recording of the event), and I hope to find the time to do some blogging from the event itself.
Of course, if you're anywhere near Reno, please stop by!

[Image: Vito Acconci, from Following Piece, 1969].

(Note that the title for this post – "A mix of possible routes" – comes from the profile of Acconci written by Aric Chen for The New York Times).

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Blogger Unknown said...

I really like the shape of the artificial island, it's alien looking, yet organic.
It also makes good use of the geodesic dome style, which I am a big fan of.

Buckminster Fuller "vougeing" in front of geodesic dome T-shirt

October 03, 2008 2:12 PM  
Blogger Art said...

I like that island too -- really cool.

Here is a link to the Vito Acconci mp3 page on the great ubuweb site:

http://www.ubu.com/sound/acconci.html

There's some really interesting stuff there, and at the bottom of the page there are links to the Acconci video and writing pages.

October 03, 2008 3:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr. Vito Acconci is a good man!

I hope you could post your interview in here.

Best

Nuno Varela

October 05, 2008 11:01 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Speaking of the A+E Conference, there were certainly a few high points, lots of mediocrity, and the absolute low-point ... your interview with Vito not happening due to lack of time!

Completely ridiculous.

After suffering through one or two real stinker sessions on the second day it was literally devastating to find out that what could have easily been the most interesting conversation of the conference was bumped.

October 05, 2008 11:45 AM  
Blogger Geoff Manaugh said...

That cancellation was definitely bad news! But I hope to talk to Vito over the phone at some point soon and do the conversation that way. So, Nuno, you should (hopefully) be able to read the conversation here on the blog. Vito's presentation was fascinating, I thought - I took a whole page of tiny, scrawling notes - and it was great to meet him.

Thanks for coming out to hear it, though - and sorry it had to be missed. Did you like the earlier panel with Matt Coolidge, Bill Gilbert, and Cheryl Haines...? Just curious.

And, Klamath, thanks for the Ubuweb link!

October 05, 2008 2:14 PM  
Blogger Mark Souvalian, BLA, Sales Representative said...

With my BLA and Masters in Arch I think this guys work is sterling.
http://ibmblalab.blogspot.com/

October 19, 2008 10:40 PM  

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