pryings

There are a lot of reasons why Pryings could be considered a political piece.  First, it's about force and agression, and about stoic resistance.  Dillon never fights back the whole time Acconci is forcefully trying to pry her eyes open, so it couldn't really be about revolution, but there is definitely a resistance or defiance about her actions.  She absolutely refuses to open her eyes, and Acconci only succeeds in exposing the whites of her eyes a couple of times thoughout the whole 20 minute piece.  It's also probably making a statement about the extent to which you can force someone to submit to your will.  Even though he manages to separate her eyelids, she isn't looking out; you can't see the colored part of her eyes, so she still can't see out.  You cannot force someone to see something.  Even if you can force them to open their eyes, you can't make them look.  This seems metaphorical to me, but I have trouble deciding how it fits into a political context.  Is Acconci the government trying to make the people see?  That wouldn't make sense, because largely the government works to reveal to us only the select information they want us to know.  Perhaps he is a revolutionary, trying to open the eyes of the masses so they might see what he sees and join his cause.  Perhaps Dillon is the government, and Acconci is trying to show her the plight of the people.