Pope.L: Choir
October 10, 2019–March 8, 2020
For almost four decades, Pope.L (b. 1955) has challenged us to confront some of the most pressing questions about American society as well as about the very nature of art. Best known for enacting arduous and provocative interventions in public spaces, Pope.L addresses issues and themes ranging from language to gender, race, social struggle, and community. His boundary-breaking practice ranges from performance to painting, installation, video, sculpture, and theater. Pope.L: Instigation, Aspiration, Perspiration is a trio of complementary exhibitions organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and Public Art Fund. Utilizing both public and private spaces, the expansive presentation will address many elements of the artist’s oeuvre from seminal early works, to a monumental new installation, and a new performative work inspired by the artist’s iconic crawl series on the streets of New York City.
At the Whitney, on the occasion of Pope.L’s receipt of the 2017 Bucksbaum Award, the artist will create a new installation entitled Choir. Expanding on Pope.L’s ongoing exploration and use of water, Choir is inspired by the fountain, the public arena, and John Cage’s conception of music and sound. The Whitney presentation is organized by Christopher Y. Lew, Nancy and Fred Poses Curator, with Ambika Trasi, curatorial assistant.
The MoMA presentation will focus on thirteen early landmark performances from 1978–2001 that helped define Pope.L's career and are representative of the artist’s core concerns. The exhibition will explore the performances through a combination of archival videos, photographs, ephemera, sculptural elements, and live actions. The MoMA presentation is organized by Stuart Comer, Chief Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art, with Danielle A. Jackson, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and Performance Art.
Inspired by his decades-long crawl series, Pope.L will unveil a new publicly-activated crawl on the streets of New York City with Public Art Fund. In dozens of previous iterations, the artist has dragged his own body across the urban landscape, most notably with his Times Square Crawl(1978), Tompkins Square Crawl (1991), and The Great White Way, 22 Miles, 9 Years, 1 Street (2001–2009). For this new commission, titled Conquest, he will engage members of the public to explore the potential and power of collective action for his largest and most ambitious crawl to date. This public performance is organized by Public Art Fund Director and Chief Curator Nicholas Baume.
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