The son of an Italian immigrant, Vito Acconci was born in the Bronx in 1940.. He lives in Manhattan and works in Brooklyn. A sculptor, performer and video artist, he initially devoted himself to poetry and experimental writing. A leading figure in Body Art and one of the main representatives of performing art, his first studies, often judged shocking, date back to 1969. His photographic work, videos and performances concentrate on his body, on the relationship between himself and others and on the relationship with architectonic space. Since the 1980s he has devoted himself to sculptures and permanent installations, becoming one of the pioneers of Public Art. In the late 1980s, he created Studio Acconci.
His exhibitions have been held in leading international museums and institutions. Acconci began exhibiting at the end of the 1960s and in 1972 exhibited at the Sonnabend Gallery of New York and Paris and at the L’Attico Gallery in Rome. His main solo exhibitions have been held in the following museums:; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1978), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1980), Pac, Milan (1981), Whitney Museum of American Art (1983), Museum of Modern Art, New York (1988), Pecci Museum, Prato (1992), Milwaukee Museum of Art (2002), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes (2002), Argos Center for Art & Media, Brussels (2009), Museum of Contemporary Art, Rivoli Castle (2010).