Pope.L
The Great White Way, 22 Miles, 5 Years, 1 Street (Segment H1: December 29, 2001)
Information about the artwork
- Year2001-2006
- MaterialVideo, CRT monitor and epoxy resin
- Video length6:35 mins
- Year of acquisition2023
- Inventory numberUAB 1319
- On viewGround floor
- Copyright© Pope.L, Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York
More about the artwork
Considered one of the most famous of Pope.L’s “crawls” is “The Great White Way” (2001–2006), for which the artist donned a Superman costume, strapped a skateboard to his back instead of a cape, and crawled a total of 22 miles (nearly 35 kilometers) from the Statue of Liberty to the Bronx in several stages over many years. In the installation, the opening cinematic scenes of his journey through iconic New York locations are shown on a monitor in a synthetic black puddle. As indicated in its title, the work plays with the contradictions of Manhattan’s longest street—Broadway: as a symbol of the American dream, it is also a place of degradation, social inequality, and exploitation.
