Film

14 Americans: Directions of the 1970s

1981 · 1h 29m

The multiple means of making art after the end of illusionism led these artists to create performances, sculptures, earthworks, tableaux, furniture, shaped canvases, and more, using unusual materials. They explore the process of making forms and giving meanings to those forms. In this idea art, their focus is as often social and psychological as artistic. Some of their activities enlist engineering and construction techniques, others compose texts or scripts that are central to their art. Some cast the viewer in the role of a spectator, while the others demand active participation. The sources for their concepts and art works are equally diverse; the delicate proportions and balance of Early Renaissance painting, the exploration of the surface of the moon, the structure and inventions of vernacular architects, to name only a few.

Vito Acconci

Himself

Laurie Anderson

Herself

Chuck Close

Himself

• Nancy RosenDirector
• Michael BlackwoodDirector

Release date

September 1, 1981

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

1h 29m

Rated

NR