Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start

May 17–July 19, 2013
Venue: SPACES, Cleveland, OH
Participating artist(s): 0100101110101101.org (Eva and Franco Mattes), Pippin Barr, Wafaa Bilal, Mary Flanagan, Knut Hybinette, Molleindustria (a.k.a. Paolo Pedercini), and Dana Sperry
Publication: Gallery Booklet
Molleindustria (a.k.a. Paolo Pedercini), Faith Fighter, 2008, Video game
Molleindustria (a.k.a. Paolo Pedercini)
Faith Fighter, 2008
Video game (still)

Performance art is often thought to center around the artist’s body—improvising within parameters or working through a set of directions. What happens when the physical is eliminated or intentionally ignored in favor of a virtual experience. Does the physicality of a performance translate? Does it need to?

Video games manage to straddle the line between the physical and the virtual—set the stage for a dual performance of the player’s subtle physical dance of fingers across a controller and the pixelated movements of digital bodies.

Pippin Barr, The Artist is Present, 2012, Video game (stills)
Pippin Barr
The Artist is Present, 2012
Video game (stills)

Following similar avenues as traditional performance art, video games set up a framework for acting and improvising. Players can work within these programmed parameters or some have elected to hack games and gaming platforms to set their own rules.

Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start1 highlighted the actions of artists, programmers and players who choreograph their own performances—including including the players. From classic console games, to artist-created worlds, these works invite viewers to see virtual and real worlds in a new light and hopefully with a little more performance.

Mary Flanagan, [borders: chichen itza], 2010, video (still)
Mary Flanagan
[borders: chichen itza], 2010
Video (still)
Wafaa Bila,l Virtual Jihadi, 2008, video game
Wafaa Bilal
Virtual Jihadi, 2008
Video game (still)
Eva and Franco Mattes a.k.a. 0100101110101101.org, Reenactments, 2009–10, Video documentation of performances
Eva and Franco Mattes a.k.a. 0100101110101101.org
Reenactments, 2009–10
Video documentation of performances
Eva and Franco Mattes a.k.a. 0100101110101101.org, Synthetic Performances, 2009–10, Video documentation of performances
Eva and Franco Mattes a.k.a. 0100101110101101.org
Synthetic Performances, 2009–10
Video documentation of performances
Wafaa Bilal, Domestic Tension: Day 30, 2007, Documentation of interactive performance, installation view
Wafaa Bilal
Domestic Tension: Day 30, 2007
Documentation of interactive performance
Installation view
Paolo Pedercini, Welcome to the Desert of the Real, 2011, Machinima (still), installation view
Paolo Pedercini
Welcome to the Desert of the Real, 2011
Machinima (still)
Installation view
Dana Sperry, First Person Shooter or New Rider of the Apocalypse, 2006, video, installation view
Dana Sperry
First Person Shooter or New Rider of the Apocalypse, 2006
Video (still)
Installation view
Arcade units playing various video games, installation view
Arcade units playing various video games, installation view
Image at top: Dana Sperry
First Person Shooter or New Rider of the Apocalypse, 2006
Video
  1. Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start, also known as the “Konami Code,” is a cheat code for some video games that allows players to immediately gain hundreds of lives or unlock “Easter eggs”—special surprises or hidden game modes. [Back]

Pull!

May 17–July 19, 2013
Venue: SPACES, Cleveland, OH
Participating artist(s): William Pope.L
William Pope.L, Pull!, 2013, Graphic
William Pope.L
Pull!, 2013
Graphic

Who would pull an 8-ton truck across the city of Cleveland? It turns out that hundreds of Clevelanders would.

Internationally renowned performance artist William Pope.L asked people across Cleveland to manually pull an eight-ton truck for over two days straight, as a durational community performance piece and a testament to the power of shared labor.

Over 1,400 images collected from Clevelanders about what work means to them were projected from the back of the truck as it is pulled over twenty-five miles through the city. Pull! defied the persistent geographic and demographic split between Cleveland’s east and west sides, traveling through a diversity of neighborhoods on both sides of town—from North Collinwood, Glenville, University Circle, Hough, AsiaTown and downtown; to West Park, Clark-Fulton and Ohio City. Residents were able to view images submitted by Clevelanders as the truck was pulled through their neighborhoods.

Pull! was a show of strength that could only happen if thousands of people literally pulled together in a massive act of shared commitment. It celebrated the labor that built Cleveland, a city with a rich and challenging industrial history. It asked every Clevelander, whether they loved or hated their jobs or just couldn’t find one, what work meant to their city.

Pull! took place on June 7-9, 2013, as part of Present & Accounted: A Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Cleveland Performance Art Festival (1988–1999).

William Pope.L, Pull!, 2013, Photo documentation
William Pope.L
Pull!, 2013
Photo documentation
Photography by Paul Sobota, courtesy of William Pope.L and SPACES
William Pope.L, Pull!, 2013, Photo documentation
William Pope.L
Pull!, 2013
Photo documentation
Photography by Paul Sobota, courtesy of William Pope.L and SPACES
William Pope.L, Pull!, 2013, Photo documentation
William Pope.L
Pull!, 2013
Photo documentation
Photography by Paul Sobota, courtesy of William Pope.L and SPACES
William Pope.L, Pull!, 2013, Photo documentation
William Pope.L
Pull!, 2013
Photo documentation
Photography by Paul Sobota, courtesy of William Pope.L and SPACES
William Pope.L, Pull!, 2013, Photo documentation
William Pope.L
Pull!, 2013
Photo documentation
Photography by Paul Sobota, courtesy of William Pope.L and SPACES
William Pope.L, Pull!, 2013, city routes
William Pope.L
Pull!, 2013
Routes through the city of Cleveland

EVENTS

Community Forum on Work
Thursday, May 30, 6:30–8:30pm
Neighborhood Leadership Institute
5246 Broadway
(2nd floor of Broadway United Methodist Church Building)
With the Neighborhood Leadership Institute, Policy Matters Ohio and Neighborhood Connections

Pull!
Friday, June 7, 9:00 p.m. – Sunday, June 9, 9:00 pm
From the Beachland Ballroom to Market Square Park

Pull! Launch Party
Friday, June 7, 7:00–9:00 pm
Beachland Ballroom
15711 Waterloo Road
Featuring the Revolution Brass Band
Pull! Joins Parade the Circle
Saturday, June 8, 12:00–3:00 pm
Wade Oval
10820 East Boulevard

Pull! End Party
Sunday, June 9, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Market Square Park
West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue
Featuring Passport Project and the Neil Chastain Quartet

William Pope.L in front of the Pull! truck
William Pope.L in front of the Pull! truck

Pull! is made possible by generous support from the 2012 Joyce Awards, the George Gund Foundation, the John P. Murphy Foundation, Neighborhood Connections, Speedpro Imaging, Good Greens, the Distillata Company, Jakprints and FORM, and is produced in partnership with the 25th Anniversary of the Cleveland Performing Arts Festival, 2100 Lakeside, the Beachland Ballroom, Berea Moving & Storage, City Rising Farm, the Cleveland Memory Project, the Cleveland Print Room, Cleveland Public Library, the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, Famicos, Neighborhood Connections, the Neighborhood Leadership Institute, Northeast Shores, Ohio City Incorporated, Parade the Circle, Policy Matters Ohio, St. Paul Community Church, and Tenable Protective Services.

The Foreigner

February 1–March 29, 2013
Venue: SPACES, Cleveland, OH
Participating artist(s): Jon Rubin and Felipe Castelblanco
Publication: Gallery Booklet

Imagine a freckled 14 year old girl at the mall who approaches a stranger and asks, “What is the weather like where you are?” The bewildered stranger cocks an eyebrow and replies, “It’s pretty cold and snowing.” The girl states, “It is 11 degrees Celsius here in Tehran.” Thoroughly confused, the stranger narrows his eyes and furrows his brow. The girl goes on to explain, “I am sitting in my home in Iran, listening to you through my computer and speaking to you through this girl in front of you. I am a 30 year-old man and a musician. What kinds of music do you like?”

The brainchild of artists Jon Rubin and Felipe Castelblanco, this scenario will play out a number of times at different locations in Cleveland as part of The Foreigner. The project employs simple mobile technology that allows Clevelanders to act as physical avatars for Iranian citizens, thus enabling the general public in the mall to meet and speak to someone living in Iran through the body of a local citizen.

The Foreigner presents an uncanny circumstance where the separation between self and other, local and foreign, is collapsed and confused, and the geopolitical distance between the United States and Iran is made personal and local.

Jon Rubin and Felipe Castelblanco, The Foreigner
Jon Rubin and Felipe Castelblanco
The Foreigner, 2013

Events with Avatars

Opening at SPACES
Friday, February 1, 6:00–9:00 pm
Other events
Saturday, February 2, 10:00 am–1:00 pm
Saturday, February 9, 10:00 am–1:00 pm
Sunday, February 17, 10:00 am–1:00 pm
Saturday, March 9, 10:00 am–1:00 pm
Saturday, April 6, 10:00 am–1:00 pm