Why am I doing this?

A chance viewing of an exhibition of New Yorker Vito Hannibal Acconci's work at Macba in Barcelona. Looking into his bio i noticed that he began as a poet but transferred to photography, video and other medias in the 1960s. Acconci changed direction in order to

"define [his] body in space, find a ground for [him]self, an alternate ground for the page ground [he] had as a poet." (Video Data Bank)

The 'page ground' he mentions could be compared to "the non place of language" as described by Foucault aided by Borges as the place in which all categories of things are linked and exist together in a way that is impossible in reality. In a sense then Acconci trying to find away to achieve the impossible and create a spatial representation of the unreal.

Claim Excerpts from 1971 involved a live stream of Acconci hiding blindfolded in a basement acting menacingly being placed outside the door. People were free to enter as they liked, to chose where the reality of this situation lied. Acconci uses this piece as well as the 'pimples on my bum' work we saw in class as part of his 'art as therapy' progression. He invites people to look inside his unconscious mind and join him in the basement only to have his conscious self viciously protecting it from being revealed.

A short clip of claim excerpts as well as other acconci video works can be found at:
http://www.vdb.org/smackn.acgi$artistdetail?ACCONCIV