“verticality”—a term that he uses to describe the function of being wealthy enough, or healthy enough, to remain uprightand in motion. This

The why of dragging one’s body across the befouled surfaces of the world’s busiest streets has shifted in the past three decades ofPope.L’s performances

It was a scene ligreed by Pope.L’s uency in easy symbolism. At the head of the crawling line, one volunteer carefully swept thesidewalk, intermittently spraying the ground with a scent laced with tobacco and teakwood (a nod to the tobacco crops that wereonce grown on Manhattan) while a trumpeter ambled alongside the column, improvising in melodic bursts. In addition to beingblindfolded, the crawlers clutched ashlights and, if their physical health permitted, wore only a single shoe

But what really matters is that the bystandersare looking.F

He has traversed a substantial portion of New York City (andparts of Europe) on his hands, knees, stomach, and elbows, wearing everything from a Superman costume to a sports jersey andNike sneakers

Meanwhile, the performance artist William Pope.L has spent thirty yearsdevising ways to disrupt our inattentive ways of seeing. He just wants us to look down, for once.