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14/5/2004

The Black Factory

Center for Curatorial Studies, Annandale-on-Hudson

A performance installation by William Pope L

Saturday, May 15, 2004

Constructed to fit inside a panel truck, the Black Factory is an interactive public environment made up of a library, a workshop and a gift shop that aims to re-energize discussions about race in America by inviting people to share objects that represent 'blackness' to them. It will be parked outside the Center for Curatorial Studies and open to the public from 1 - 5 p.m.

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—William Pope.L's performance installation, The Black Factory, is a panel truck that contains an interactive, public environment—including a library, workshop, and gift shop—designed to reenergize discussions about race in America as it travels through the United States during 2004–05. On Saturday, May 15, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard will host The Black Factory; admission is free.

The Black Factory is "aimed at anyone interested in issues of what makes us different," explains Pope.L. "Calling it the ‘Black' Factory is just a way of making it concrete. It's not specifically for black people—it's using the black experience as a funnel to talk about difference."

Visitors will participate in the performance installation by bringing objects that speak to them of blackness. They can donate the object to The Black Factory or have it photographed and published in an archive on the World Wide Web. Some of the donated objects will tour with the installation, while others will be pulverized and made into new products by the "Factory" and offered for sale in the gift shop.

In a 2002 article in Nka, "William Pope.L: The Friendliest Black Artist in America," author Mark Bessire states, "Pope.L has been expanding the boundaries of performance and installation art for 25 years." In the same article, Lowery Sims, director of the Studio Museum, notes that Pope.L "may well be the poet laureate of male performance artists," admiring his ability to "create from his own existence as an African American male and subject the specifics to an intellect and wit worthy of François Rabelais, Amos Tutola, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Malcolm X."

Pope.L is internationally known for his provocative explorations of race, class, pop culture, and consumerism outside of traditional galleries and museums. His performance, The Great White Way, was featured in the 2002Whitney Biennial. Pope.L is the subject of eRacism, a retrospective exhibition organized by the Portland Institute of Art, Maine College of Art,and Diverseworks in Houston.

Image: The Black Factory.
Photo courtesy of MASS MoCA, credit Ian Kerr.


The Black Factory has been organized by MASS MoCA in conjunction with the exhibition The Interventionists: Art in the Social Sphere, opening in May.

Time: 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Location:
Center for Curatorial Studies, Museum
BARD COLLEGE
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.

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