Pope.L: Cage Unrequited (2013) (excerpt)

Iconic performance artist Pope.L's (formerly known as William Pope.L) Cage Unrequited is a 25 hour marathon reading of John Cage's edited anthology, Silence: Lectures and Writings (1961) by over eighty invited collaborators. The performance functions as a refuge, proposing a relationship between the earlier artist's ideas of indeterminacy, mysticism and chance and the work of contemporary black artists. This is an excerpt from Pope.L's interlude.
A part of Three Duets, Seven Variations, a special series for the Performa 13 biennial, pairing six intergenerational artists for seven programs. This program is organized by Adrienne Edwards, Performa, and Thomas J. Lax, The Studio Museum in Harlem.
Co-organized by the Grey Art Gallery, NYU; The Studio Museum in Harlem; and Performa.
Performed November 16--17, 2013, at Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, New York.
Videographer: Charles Dennis, Performa
Editor: Noah Krell