william Pope L.
Mandy Morrison
Mandy Morrison: What influenced your decision to create (per formative) work that would Interact in a public sphere?
William Pope L.: My six major influences are 1) my family, their spirit of politics, mystery and poetry 2) the history of gender, class and color-caste relations the U.S.; how this has shaped our view of our bodies 3) Civil Rights and The Black Power Movements as Social Sculpture 4) Experimental/Popular Music 5) Criminality 6) the fear of absence.
MM: Audiences tend to be both fascinated by as well as intimidated by Confrontational work. What benefits does the viewer derive from this? Experience and how do you think this can affect a larger politic?
WPL: Confrontation as persuasive strategy has its pros and cons. I believed once believed it had more utility. The question: to confront is to know a truth but how can a work of art which uses this strategy avoid alienating those who are put off by this truth? Alienation is unavoidable but mode of presentation is not. Am I trying to share my truth or force it? To confront a truth requires courage. To share it requires humility.
MM: What types of performances or experiences have been the most provocative? And meaningful to you personally (or in the case of a group,
Collectively)? Why?
Please see my answer to question #1 and add this; a studio critique I received from Leon Golub who said to me: Just because you create the game does not mean I have to play it. Or Ruth Maleczech who said: Just because you say its so does not make it so. Or my mother who said: Put your ass on the line where the rest of us live.
MM: Do you think that American culture as a whole has become more passive? Regarding the political issues affecting them or merely preoccupied?
WPL: Nations de-politicize their citizenry, and render them passive, by preoccupying them. Inculcating fear into them is a current strategy, viz. the war on terror. Art can also render us passive. The challenge is: how do we, as citizens, wed what we do to the social realities around us? I support almost any efforts, art or non-art, that create a more critical and active participation in the world. For example, I support Rev. Billy (and many like him) and the Buy Nothing Day Campaign. The refusal to buy is an important action in a country which is predicated on consumption. I support groups like the Black Bloc. Or individuals like Marty Pottenger, Ryan Conrad and Dread
Scott. They are only a few of the people out there making a mess of things, trying to do what is ‘right.’
MM: Do you think that contemporary artists (and the art community as a Whole) generally veers towards certain types of practices for reasons Of fashion, conviction or economics?
JPL: There are multiple art worlds that compose the planet Art World. These worlds overlap. Each world possesses its own set of conventions within which it operates. A common feature of these worlds is that they are systems. As systems they serve only their own interest, not the interests of the individuals who participate in them. This is not to say that individuals cannot act within these systems but that the systems are finally only about their own survival. The world served by institutional critique or the Venice Biennial or Art Forum magazine derives its sense of cohesion, at bottom, by the fantasies it engenders not the realities.
Bio
William Pope.L is a visual and performance-theater artist and educator who makes culture out of contraries. He attended Mason Gross School at Rutgers University for graduate work and studied with Ruth Maleczech and Lee Breuer of Mabou Mines at Re-Cher-Chez Studio in New York City. He has received many important awards, residencies and grants including three National Endowment Fellowships, a Creative Capital Project Grant in 2001 for his large scale performance-installation The Black Factory, a Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Purpose Arts Grant in 2003, and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2004.
