Response 5, Vito Acconci

In Pryings, Acconci illustrates the tension between artist and subject by depicting his struggle to open Dillon’s eyes. The eyes of course are a powerful symbol in the piece by virtue of their centrality in our lives, part of the tension plays on this; Dillon’s insistence on her blindness makes us uncomfortable. Her lack of sight as well as Acconci’s attempts to open her eyes strikes an uncomfortable chord. Though there is undeniably tension in the piece, it is hard to classify it as an actual confrontation. Dillon remains largely passive in the video; she does not make an honest attempt to force Acconci off or away from her, her sole action is keeping her eyes shut, the most she attempts to do is to cover her eyes, and even then she does not put much effort into keeping her hands over them. In this, Acconci seems to be portraying the relation ship not only between artist and subject, but artist and viewer. In many ways, Dillon is the viewer, she is us, and what we see acted out is Acconci’s effort to, as has been said in previous posts, get us to see. Yet Acconci is shown to be impotent, he cannot force Dillon to see in the same way he cannot make his viewer see. We have the option not to look, to turn or walk away, in essence to be blind. Thus, in this piece, Acconci is coming to terms with his audience, unlike Theme Song, the viewer, though perhaps uncomfortable, does not feel threatened. Acconci, though he is the main actor in the work, is revealed to be powerless over his more passive subject, which disrupts his relation to the audience.

The focus of the camera was also an interesting quality in the piece. It is primarily focused on Dillon, with Acconci existing on the periphery. The focus then is given to Dillon and her self inflicted blindness, heightening the effect not only of Acconci’s futile efforts, but also the importance of the eyes, that is sight.