McCarthy and Kelley Reimagine Acconci in 'Fresh Acconci'

In the sixth and final episode of 'En tête-à-tête avec McCarthy', Christophe Le Gac examines Paul McCarthy and Mike Kelley's 1995 film 'Fresh Acconci'. The 44-minute video reenacts five of Vito Acconci's seminal performances—'Claim Excerpts', 'Contacts', 'Focal Point', 'Pryings', and 'Theme Song'—in a deliberately kitschy, erotic 1970s film aesthetic. The West Coast artists pay homage to Acconci's East Coast avant-garde video work, which explored boundaries between artist and viewer, body and mind, private and public. However, McCarthy and Kelley infuse the reenactments with a second-rate Hollywood glamour, contrasting Acconci's minimalist, poetic style. The film features porn industry actors in dimly lit interiors with fireplaces, yet the tone remains pathetic and absurd, highlighting the impossibility of replicating Acconci's directness under the influence of Hollywood and Disney. The series was drawn from the exhibition 'Monsieur McCarthy, que prenez-vous dans votre thé ?', organized by Le Miroir and Théâtre Auditorium de Poitiers in conjunction with the Rencontres Michel Foucault, which was interrupted by external circumstances.