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Vito Acconci (1940-2017); Ready-to-Wear Music Box Vest; image 1
Vito Acconci (1940-2017); Ready-to-Wear Music Box Vest; image 2
Lot 103W

Vito Acconci
(1940-2017)
Ready-to-Wear Music Box Vest

1 November 2022, 10:00 EDT
New York

US$4,000 - US$6,000

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Vito Acconci (1940-2017)

Ready-to-Wear Music Box Vest, 1994
Clear vinyl, velcro, thirty 18-note Reuge music box mechanisms, with mannequin signed in the plate, an artist's proof (aside from the edition of 12), published by Carl Solway Gallery for The Music Box Project, Cincinnati, Ohio.
chest 49in (124.4cm) back length 22in (55.8cm)

Footnotes

Similar in mode to earlier garments by Acconci - Adjustable Wall Bra (1990-91) and Virtual Pleasure Mask (1993) - this musical vest is intended for normal wear. The music box movements play familiar songs or classical melodies such as Ave Maria, Frère Jacques, Swan Lake, Tales from the Vienna Woods, Happy Birthday, and others. The wearer of the vest may turn on various songs individually or in chorus. When are the music boxes are playing in unisons the discordant result is a stark contrast to the harmonious sounds of the individual melodies, thus turning on its head the notion of a benign music box. As many of the boxes are unreachable for the average wearer, they may turn to a friend for assistance. The vest bridges the space between the artist's earlier performance and body of work and later public art, functioning as a kind of architecture for the body.

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