Performance art is one style of art that I just have a hard time understanding. In my opinion, it often takes things too far or it has no meaning whatsoever (like licking jelly off of a car). I’m all about expressing yourself and doing what you want, but when you ask people to touch your breasts through a cardboard box, or wear crotch-less pants and walk past people at eye level so that they have no other choice than to see your crotch, you’ve taken things a bit too far.
Vito Acconci’s Following Piece is no exception to this. In this piece he followed people around New York for 3 weeks. He would pick a random person and follow them until they went into a private area such as their home. I have a really big problem with this piece for a few reasons. The first is because the people had no idea what was happening, therefore they didn’t consent. If I was being stalked by someone who was following my every move I would be terrified and end up calling the police. This goes into my next problem of this piece- the danger. Even though he didn’t physically put anyone in danger by doing this piece, they could’ve felt like they were in danger. There’s a big difference in making someone feel uncomfortable when viewing your art and them feeling like their life is at risk. There’s nothing “artsy” about stalking people and making them terrified.