He’ll Make You Think

William Pope.L has been making public spectacles for 30 years. The 53-year-old artist is known for thought-provoking street perfomances such as Eating the Wall Street Journal, in which he perched — naked and covered in powder — on a toilet 10 feet above a New York City sculpture garden. As he chewed pages of the Journal, he sipped milk and spit the resulting goo onto the crowd below.Tonight from 6 to 9 p.m., Pope.L unveils a two-part Kansas City exhibition, Animal Nationalism, which is a little less controversial; this time it’s about American democracy and identity. Trinket, an installation in the Municipal Auditorium of the Kansas City Convention Center (14th Street, between Central and Wyandotte), features a mammoth, violently flapping American flag. Small Cup, a film set in an abandoned textile mill in Maine, screens at Grand Arts (1819 Grand, 816-421-6887), where there’s also a live musical performance.

Sept. 5-Oct. 18, 2008