Vito Acconci
SEE-SAW BRIDGE, 1983
Aluminum ladders, steel fulcrum, Plexiglas
16' x 32' x 6'

 


A see-saw made up of aluminum ladders that, when walked on, functions as a bridge.

The fulcrum of the see-saw is 8 feet high. Each of the 4 legs of the fulcrum is covered with an aluminum ladder that has been covered, in turn, with a sheet of aluminum. The base of the bridge, then, is of a kind with the bridge itself.

The floor of the bridge is made up of 2 lines of aluminum ladders, 32 feet long, place side by side and joined together. On each side is a railing, 2 lines of ladders placed edge to edge one on top of the other.

The railing functions as a billboard. Between the rails of each ladder are fixed Plexiglas labels -- red, black, and mirrored -- on which are printed words, in various typographies, red, black, and silver. Behind the fixed panels are sliding panels, that continue the words on the fixed panels. When the bridge see-saws, a movable panels slides out from behind a fixed panel, or it slides back behind it.

When a person walks across the see-saw, climbing the ladder, the low end rises and the high end comes down, with that person's weight, onto the other side. As the see-saw changes orientation, one word becomes another word. On one side, MAN becomes MAN-URE; MOB becomes MOB-IL; NU-CLEAR becomes CLEAR; VENE-REAL becomes REAL; SAV-AGE becomes AGE; SEXU-ALLY becomes ALLY; ACTION becomes RE-ACTION-ARY (and vice versa). On the other side, TICS becomes POLI-TICS; CITY becomes SCAR -CITY; BU-SIN-ESS becomes SIN; LIBE-RAT-ION becomes RAT; ASS and NATION become ASS-ASSI-NATION (and vice versa).


 

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