Vito Acconci
Seedbed
1972
Performance Art

Acconci preformed this piece in 1972 at New York’s Sonnabend Gallery under a wooden ramp, where he synchronized his masturbation patterns with the footsteps of the audience walking above. This performance piece took place over three weeks about 8 hours a day. A New York native, Acconci was a pioneer in the field of performance art, and has always maintained his work had no clear-cut political agenda. Seedbed set the precedent for much of his later work.