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Title
Rubbing Piece
Names
Acconci, Vito, 1940- (Photographer)
Collection

Vito Acconci: photographs

Dates / Origin
Date Created: 1970
Library locations
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection
Shelf locator: 106PH1390.001
Genres
Photographs
Notes
Ownership: Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Fund, 2006
Exhibitions: 30th Anniversary Exhibit.
Physical Description
Gelatin silver prints
Extent: Print Size: 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm) Mat / Mount: 17 x 14 in. (43.2 x 35.6 cm)
Initialled and dated in pencil on verso.
Description
Rubbing Piece documents a performance in Kansas City in May 1970, in which Acconci rubbed his left forearm with his right hand, continually for one hour. He photographed the resulting sore. Although not conceived as a photo activity per se, Acconci nevertheless saw the performance as a way of "marking time." According to Acconci, it also recorded the performer as producer and consumer, and the performance as circulation. The artist's rhetoric places the piece firmly in the social/political milieu of the 1960 and 70s, as does his concern with the burdened body which, in retrospect, takes on deeper meaning in the context of the Vietnam War. In this sense the works are appropriate companions for Acconci's more politically explicit 1979 print 3 Flags for 1 Space and 6 Regions, in the Print Collection, which shows the flags of the 3 "Super Powers," America, China, and Russia, overlapping each other in the same space.
Type of Resource
Still image
Identifiers
TMS ID: 25138
TMS Object Number: 106PH1390.001
NYPL Exhibition ID: TL 10.02.020
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): a3133290-c6ef-012f-8941-58d385a7bc34
Copyright Notice
© Vito Acconci
Rights Statement
This item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Item timeline of events

  • 1970: Created
  • 2016: Digitized
  • 2024: Found by you!
  • 2025

MLA Format

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "Rubbing Piece" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1970. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/8bfbd237-2cde-aed1-e040-e00a1806680b

Chicago/Turabian Format

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "Rubbing Piece" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 23, 2024. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/8bfbd237-2cde-aed1-e040-e00a1806680b

APA Format

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. (1970). Rubbing Piece Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/8bfbd237-2cde-aed1-e040-e00a1806680b

Wikipedia Citation

<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/8bfbd237-2cde-aed1-e040-e00a1806680b | title= (still image) Rubbing Piece, (1970)|author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=April 23, 2024 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>

Rubbing Piece