TONY COKES
This isn’t theory. This is history

15 July 2021 – 20 October 2021
#Solo/Multi

This isn’t theory. This is history is a solo show by American artist Tony Cokes, conceived for the space of over 1000 square metres that hosts the SOLO/MULTI section of the museum. Cokes’ work challenges the established use and hierarchies of the three main languages of media and art — image, text and sound — and re-contextualizes cultural fragments to explore themes of structural racism, war, capitalism, and how music and mass media reflect and shape our present condition.

Starting with the artist’s seminal early film Black Celebration (1988) and closing with a new work commissioned for the occasion, the exhibition traces back through three decades of Tony Cokes’ work, presenting it within an entirely new framework, a hybrid between the white cube of the art space and the black box of the cinema.

 


 

Curator: Luca Lo Pinto
Coordinated by Chiara Siravo (curatorial) and Lorena Stamo (production)
Exhibitions and Events Assistants: Giulia Caruso, Beatrice Schivo
Graphic production: Gimax

With the support of: American Academy in Rome, K- Array

Heartfelt thank you to: Greene Naftali Gallery, New York, Klaus Hausherr, Emanuele de Raymondi, Pietro Stori