via: pope l
Notes:
In his 2017 Flint Water Project, William Pope.L collected tap water from a Flint home and worked with the Detroit artist-run gallery What Pipeline to bottle, display, and sell it in limited editions. The ordinary water bottle was a pointed choice. Its familiar shape carries an expectation of safety, while its contents came from a city where residents had reason to distrust what came out of their taps. By packaging the water in individual bottles and boxed sets, Pope.L used the visual language of a commercial product to make that broken trust tangible. whatpipeline.com
Pope.L made the act of bottling part of the exhibition. At the opening, visitors could watch the water being bottled, and throughout the show the gallery served as both a shop and an informal information center. That combination gave the audience two different roles. As shoppers, they could choose whether to buy a bottle. As visitors learning about the crisis, they had to consider how little choice Flint residents had over the water delivered to their homes. The live demonstration made that imbalance visible through an ordinary series of actions: filling, sealing, and preparing a bottle for sale. whatpipeline.com
The project’s most difficult decision was to make the water collectible. A signature could turn a bottle drawn from a household tap into a $250 artwork, raising the question of why the same water commanded that kind of attention once it entered a gallery. What Pipeline reported that the project raised more than $30,000, with proceeds going to the United Way of Genesee County and Hydrate Detroit. The fundraising gave the sales a concrete purpose while leaving the central tension intact. Collectors could take home a bottle as an object of value, while residents were fighting for the ability to use the water in their own homes.
- RJG//AI