Vito Acconci is similarly “artistic,”nthough less electric. In Security Zonen(1971), for example, he walked aroundnon a pier in New York; he wasnblindfolded and, he said, accompaniednby “someone about whom my feelingsnare ambiguous, someone I don’t fullyntrust.” Acconci didn’t drown. Had he, thenworld of art (?) would have been sparednSeedbed (1972 ), during which Acconci,nsecreted inside a hollow ramp in angallery, performed onanism; an amplificationnsystem ensured that all those innthe vicinity were aware of his activities.nA recent report has it that Acconcintelephoned the New York Times on anfairly regular basis in order to announcenthat his breathing is a work of art. In annessay on Acconci in The Art of PerformancenDavid Bourdon writes, “Peoplenwho are not au courant with recentndevelopments in contemporary artnmight think Acconci belongs in a paddedncell.” Even those who are au courantnmight—^and should—come to the samenconclusion; he seems to be a type ofnmadman sans divinity.nIt might be concluded that the effectsnof those like Burden and Acconci arenlimited to a few members of a fringenCtmslruclioii Soil’sn(lixi-ii simply llii- litlc oil. 1. (‘.oi-l/ivsniiKisi ri’iciil iiDv il. /.//(• if- ‘/ inics nfnMidHicI K ( Iking I’ri-ss; i-w ^’ork). il isn(.’U-ar ih.U tills is :ui iiilvi’iltiiiv in K:ilk:tl.MUl.nwliiih liUTury hiiiil tliNflopcrsn(ii()flisls. criliCN ;iiKllli>)si’t:ikiiim.l;issi.sntli.il will i|u;illl tlii-m lo pi.-ililli-sp;ici1nIv.ivi- hii-ii ik’iirlnj;. hulklo/jiii;. i’f:i;ilinj;.nanil IniiUling iipi)n lor yi-ars. NDWnIIKTI- is a MrilabU- lorisl (il’iipsiakaHKloininiiinisonnthi.’ iinaal csiau-. all ofnwliith ari- hmh ililli-ri-iil ytl IIK- sanii-.n.iii)iK’ who had a liii loo iiuuh loilriiiknniifihl ir> to i;(.-l throiij;h ihi- wroni;doorn—u-l il prohahh woiikln’l make a tiriainikLi!olililk’iviitviradinissi arihiti’Ltiiral lloiiri>.hi-s an-nLu’ki’il on. .such as a petty, bound piiaronllovM-wr. till.- intaiorisdoni’by ihi’linrnthat has diaprd llu- inliiv dcvilopniLintill’naii}>iisi tirni .iij;si iS; lainiii. <:oi-t/o”>novilnis built with niodi-rn man-rials,npasti-boaril insii-ad olplasiiT; pa-ssboarc’.nin lien olpini-. On the siirracc. tlieiv is ;.npleasant appearanee (at le;Lst with renariinto the snri’onnding ediliees i. but oneneouldn’t livi- there loo lonj; belore hennolieed tliat the taps leak and that thenlnnt>es are iiniloite. Iiuked. the entirenstrneliire is not unlike one ol thosenimposiiii; homes in (..ililornia—biiili onnlliei-dm-ol’aelill.nnnBrothers), on which she is accompaniednby a number of persons, including thatnunmusical, aged favorite of the Americannpotty-minded avant-garde, William S.nBurroughs. Anderson, who could probablynnot survive if she didn’t have accessnto an electric outlet (for normal, notnBurdenesque, purposes), diodes, amplifiers,nand various pieces of siliconntechnology, talks over music that hasnjungle rhythms, music that wouldn’t benout of place on the soundtrack of somethingnlike Abbott and Costello Go tonAfrica Nonetheless, at the time of thisnwriting, the latter part of April, MisternHeartbreak is one of the top five albumsnon college campuses in the U.S.nAdmittedly, Laurie Anderson’s successnmay be considered somewhatninconclusive as far as the pervasivenessnof performance art is concerned. Afternall, big companies like Warner BrothersnRecords Inc., a Warner CommunicationsnCompany, regularly pander to low andnnumb tastes. Moreover, college-attendingnindividuals (sometimes—but notnalways—known as “students”) arenbarometers, in many cases, of nothingnbut the degree of adolescence retainednby those who have physiologicallynpassed out of that stage. Is there morenwidespread evidence of the influence ofnperformance artists? Unfortunately, thenanswer is yes.nThe efforts of artist (ah-hem) NamnJune Paik in collaboration with musiciannCharlotte Moorman merit a chapter inn