Rubbings represents a process of integration of a reality outside oneself through metaphor. Vito Acconci is lying naked on his back. The shot cuts his head at nose level. He rubs his stomach laterally with his right hand - this movement leads the spectator to concentrate on the density of his body. His right hand leaves the screen for a moment and then starts rubbing again. He lifts his hand slightly and reveals an urban parasite which is very common in New York: a cockroach which he is crushing as he rubs himself. Gradually, several of these insects appear on his body, both alive and motionless, but always at the artist's mercy.

The intention of the artist is to insist on the idea of mixing cockroaches with his own body and on the process of ingurgitation and digestion by a metaphorical close-up on his stomach. How can we understand except by means of what is not presented: the deployment of the artist's thinking after an action on himself? Vito Acconci exposes this process which is situated between the physical and the mental. The action carried out and the external object involved leave their imprint on the body and mind of the actor who analyzes them or kneads them in turn in their different meanings.

Rubbing also appears in a performance a few months before Rubbings: Rubbing Piece (May 1970). At a meeting of performance artists in a restaurant, Vito Acconci sits down at a table and rubs his forearm for one hour. In this public place, it is a way of distancing others and marking his place, objectivizing his body and indicating the suffering created by self construction.

In this way, Vito Acconci makes us aware of contextuality and the limits between individuals, and on what an action, interaction or relationship changes in oneself.

Thérèse Beyler