member: Pope.L, 1978–2001

The first in-depth publication to critically investigate the impact of Pope.L's early performances on his career.

Pope.L (b. 1955) is a consummate thinker and provocateur whose practice across multiple mediums—including painting, drawing, installation, sculpture, theatre, and video—utilises abjection, humour, endurance, language, and absurdity to confront and undermine rigid systems of belief. Spanning works made primarily from 1978 to 2001, member: Pope.L, 1978-2001 features a combination of videos, photographs, sculptural elements, ephemera, and live actions.

This volume, published in conjunction with an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, presents a detailed study of thirteen early works that helped define Pope.L's career. It features essays by curators, artists, filmmakers, and art historians, plus an interview and artistic interventions by the artist. These components are supplemented by thirteen detailed plate entries that highlight key details of each work.

The entries engage performances that are rooted in experimental theatre such as Egg Eating Contest (1990) and Aunt Jenny Chronicles (1991) as well as street interventions such as Thunderbird Immolation a.k.a. Meditation Square Piece (1978), ATM Piece (1996), and The Great White Way: 22 miles, 9 years, 1 street (2001-2009), among others.

Together, these works highlight the role of performance within a seditious, emphatically interdisciplinary career that has established Pope.L as an influential force in the history of contemporary art.