William Pope.L -- Performance Art / Community / WORK

WILLIAM POPE.L -- Wants Cleveland to PULL

http://www.coolcleveland.com/blog/2013/06/video-william-pope-l-wants-cleveland-to-pull/

“Art has utility,” he said. “In museums, it’s muffled, it’s protected. By taking it outside of its protective context, like a ball, you can get more out of it. It’ll get scuffed up, but you can fix it with duct tape.”

William Pope.L

Beginning in the late '90s, William Pope.L famously crawled along 22 miles of sidewalk, from the beginning to the end of Broadway—Manhattan's longest street—wearing a capeless Superman outfit with a skateboard strapped to his back. In varying fits and starts, the performance, titled The Great White Way, 22 Miles, 9 Years, 1 Street, took nine years to complete, with each installment lasting as long as Pope.L could endure the knee and elbow pain (often about six blocks). It is among 30-plus "crawl" pieces that he has performed over more than three decades of work as an artist. (taken from Interview Magazine) 

In PULL! - A truck weighing 10 TONS, 25 miles, east side to west side, 3 days will be PULLED by community members in Cleveland. Theme of project is WORK. Make people think about Work and Pulling Together. A testament to the power of shared labor. 

Pope.L and SPACES have solicited photographs and stories regarding work from Clevelanders from diverse economic and racial backgrounds. Photographs and images have also been created at six community workshops in various Cleveland neighborhoods. The photographs will then be woven together with black and white images from Cleveland’s history into a long video that will be projected onto a screen on the back of a mobile truck. 

Pull! took place June 7-9 of 2013, as part of the 25th anniversary of the Cleveland Performance Art Festival.