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Tony Cokes in De Balie

21 december – 8 januari 2023

Tony Cokes

Disco isn’t dead. It has gone to war.

English below

Felle kleuren, rake teksten en harde beats. Met een verrassende combinatie van beeld, tekst en geluid maakt Tony Cokes al tientallen jaren unieke en spraakmakende video-essays. De kunst van Tony Cokes daagt kijkers uit op een andere manier te kijken naar de politieke rol van kunst en media. Welke rol speelt popmuziek in de war on terror? En waarom is minimal techno ontstaan in Detroit? Dompel je onder in de wereld van Tony Cokes. Te zien in De Balie van 23 december tot en met 7 januari.

Het werk van Tony Cokes laat als geen ander de ambiguïteit en complexiteit van onze moderne kapitalistische samenleving zien. In zijn kunst vervlecht Cokes thema’s als gentrificatie, popmuziek en rassenongelijkheid, en combineert hij de ideeën van denkers als Paul Gilroy, Tino Seghal en James Baldwin met muziek van Michael Jackson, Morissey, Kraftwerk en Nancy Sinatra.


The surprising combination of bright colours, in your face text and thumping beats have been the main ingredients for Tony Cokes’ unique and striking video essays for decades. Cokes’ art challenges its audience to re-evaluate the political role of art and media. What role does pop music play in the War on Terror? And why did the birth of minimal techno music take place in Detroit?

In his work, Cokes shows us the ambiguity and complexity of our modern capitalist society. He intertwines themes like gentrification, pop music and racial inequality, and combines the ideas of thinkers such as Paul Gilroy, Tino Seghal and James Baldwin with music by Michael Jackson, Morissey, Kraftwerk and Nancy Sinatra.

The display of Cokes’ works in De Balie is realized in collaboration with the Hartwig Art Foundation.

About Tony Cokes

Tony Cokes lives and works in Providence, Rhode Island, where he serves as Professor in the Department of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University. Recent solo exhibitions include MACRO Contemporary Art Museum, Rome (2021); CIRCA, London (2021); Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona (2020); ARGOS centre for audiovisual arts, Brussels (2020); Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2020); BAK – basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, Netherlands (2020); Luma Westbau, Zurich (2019); Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, London (2019); The Shed, New York (2019); Greene Naftali, New York (2018); Kunsthall Bergen, Bergen, Norway (2018); and REDCAT, Los Angeles (2012).

His work is in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Centre Pompidou, Paris; FRAC Lorraine, Metz; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Kunsthallen, Copenhagen; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Wexner Center for the Visual Arts, Columbus; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others.

Disco isn't dead it has gone to war tony cokes
Tony Cokes – Evil.16 (Torture.Musik), 2009-2011 HD video, color, sound, 16:27 minutes, Edition of 5, 2AP, (TCo.012)
Tony cokes in De Balie
Tony Cokes (2019) | Photo: Caroline Seidel/dpa Photo via Newscom