Centers is an act designed for video. It is limited to a single actor and a single gesture in front of the camera. Vito Acconci stretches out his arm towards the camera or video screen. He holds this position in an effort of concentration which is clearly visible in his eyes, the tension of his arm and his breathing. The recording takes place in real time, without interruption, leading the artist to adjust his position when fatigue and pain are felt. In this way, Vito Acconci highlights the screen as a limit in the space of the video setup which presupposes the space and the subject filmed, on the one hand, and the reception area and the spectator, on the other. The spectator actually feels singled out and pointed at. The tension of his index finger indicates, by inversion and symmetry, both the pointer and the person being pointed out. The video lasts quite a long time considering the action and the meaning which it may convey. It sets up an area of reflection for the spectator and physical performance for the performer.
In his works using video and Super 8, Vito Acconci gives priority to the subject of the action and the narcissistic dimension over the medium. However, Centers characterizes the video medium by the way it is set up, the act of showing and the language code: the index finger. According to the thesis by Rosalind Krauss 1, the use and representation of this code brings Vito Acconci closer to his contemporaries. Indeed, the use and practice of this code are a constant theme characterizing all the American plastic arts in the 1970s.

Thérèse Beyler

1 Rosalind Krauss, "Notes on the Index : Seventies Art in America", October, Cambridge, The MIT Press, number 3, Spring 1977, p. 68-81 - "Notes sur l'index. L'art des années 1970 aux Etats-Unis", Macula, Paris, number 5-6, 1979.