Anthony G Cokes
Anthony G Cokes
Professor of Modern Culture and Media
Overview
Tony Cokes is a post-conceptualist whose practice foregrounds social critique. His video, installation, and sound works recontextualize appropriated materials to reflect upon our production as subjects under capital. His recent projects often take the form of text animations with sound functioning as a constitutive, intertextual element, complicating the visual. Cokes' works have appeared in exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art, NYC, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany, MACBA, Barcelona, Spain, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Centre Georges Pompidou, Screenings include Oberhausen Short Film Festival (1993, 2005), International Film Festival Rotterdam (2001 2006, 2009 - 13), Seoul Film & Net Festival (2005), and Rencontres Internationales Paris-Berlin-Madrid (2003 - 2013). Cokes' projects have been supported by grants and fellowships from The MacArthur Foundation (2024 - 29), The American Academies in Rome and Berlin (2023, 2021), The Rockefeller Foundation, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Creative Capital Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, and New York State Council on the Arts. He was a Resident Scholar / Artist-in-Residence at The Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, CA. In spring 2014 Cokes was a Residential Fellow at Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY. Cokes is a Professor in Media Production Department of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University, Providence, RI.
Brown Affiliations
Research
Research Overview
Tony Cokes has research interests in media production, multimedia installation, documentary theory and practice, sound in relation to image, representations of artists and the studio, modes of arts criticism, and critical uses of popular culture.
Research Statement
Pop Manifestos series
A group of short essays about pop music I wrote during 1997-98 led me to produce a series of videotapes called Pop Manifestos : "AD Vice" (1999), "2@"(2000), "3#" (2001), "6^" (2001), and "5%" (2001). The Pop Manifestos blur the boundaries between critical analysis, amateur historiography, and common advertising tropes. In making the videos, I play the roles of artist, collector, curator, marketer, and critic. The Pop Manifestos video installation features a large projection of the final work in the series, "1!" (2004), accompanied by six monitors displaying each of the previous series videotapes, including two new chapters "headphones" and "pause" (2004,) and an audio archive excerpting 100+ CDs I collected over five years 1997 - 2002. My interest in the evocative powers and cultural uses of popular music forms continues to deeply inform my practice.
Evil series
My work on "the return of evil," a series of short videotapes reflecting upon American political culture before and after the events of September 11, 2001 continues. Seven works have been completed so far ("Evil" 2003, "Evil.2/3: Black September," "Evil.7: iraq.deadly.chronology," "Evil.8: Unseen," "Evil.9: Fundamental Changes" 2004, "Evil.10: W2tDotR," and "Evil.6: Faking" 2005.) "Evil.7, 8, & 9" were completed as a result of my spring 2004 sabbatical and premiered together in the 2005 Rotterdam International Film Festival. Since then individual works have been exhibited in a number of international media festivals and group art exhibitions including: Oberhausen Short Film Festival, Oberhausen, Germany' 16th- Impakt Media Festival, Utrecht, NL; Rencontres Internationales Paris-Berlin. Paris, France & Berlin, Germany; VideoEx International Media Festival. Zurich, Switzerland; ObjectNotFound Project Room, Monterrey, Mexico; and Sarai, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, India. Each work features heavy use of animated text (timelines of various kinds, calendars of worldwide political events, quotations from scholars and politicians on topics such as the reasons for the Iraq invasion, the use of torture at Abu Ghraib prison, and the return of evil as a concept in contemporary politics) and a variety of contemporary popular music. The series continues to expand with support from Brown's Office of the Vice President for Research fund (OVPR), and I contemplate producing at least five additional works over the next two years, each approximately three to ten minutes in length. Planned episode themes include: a close reading of the Department of Homeland Security's color-coded terror "alert" system, the Bush Administration's response to the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster, the manipulation of political rhetoric by the Reagan Administration, and the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Current / Future Plans
From 2004 - 06 I collaborated with Brown Visual Arts and Modern Culture and Media Studies Professor Roger Mayer and Hampshire College Philosophy Professor and music critic Christoph Cox on a conference project called sonic.focus. In fall 2014 Prof. Cox, MCM PhD. candidate Andrew Lison, and I presented the third iteration of the series: sonic.focus.3. The events examine the relationship between contemporary sound practices and visual culture. sonic.focus invites an international group of artists and scholars to contribute formal lectures, artist talks, presentations of sound and/or image media, and "live" sound or sound/image performances. I continue to produce a series of works foregrounding how black pop cultural forms are consumed and redeployed to produce hybrid interventions in today's global contexts. Most recently I have been producing "the art critique series," works dealing with the relations between criticism, capitalism, and art practices. I am embarking on the preliminary research for a major series dealing with the representation of artists, the art studio, and creative practices.
Funded Research
Residential Fellow, Corporation of Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY 2014
Departmental Research Funds for the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 2007 -2014
Faculty Development Fund, Brown University, Providence, RI (The Daily Practice of Representation… Research Project) 2013, 0214
Faculty Development Fund, Brown University, Providence, RI (REDCAT Installation Project) 2012
AT&T Research Assistantship, Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University (for ‘Evil Series’ Global Conversation website), Providence, RI
Creative Arts Council, Fitt Artist-In-Residence Award, Brown University sonic.focus conference, 2006, 2014
Forbes Research Grant, Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Research in Modern Culture and Media Studies sonic.focus conference, 2005-2006, 2013 -2014Departmental Research Funds for the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Brown University, Evil series, 2005
Departmental Research Funds for the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Brown University, Evil series, 2004
Short Film Commission, 2004 Rotterdam International Film Festival. Rotterdam, NL, Evil series, 2003-04
Departmental Research Funds for the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Brown University, Evil series 2003
Salomon Research Award, Brown University, Shrink Installation, 2002
Creative Capital Foundation, New York, NY (Supplemental Funding: Billboard Project), 2000
Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund (Dance Collaboration), 2000
Creative Capital Foundation, New York, NY (Visual Art: Billboard Project)
Visible Republic (The New England Foundation for the Arts, the Fund for the Arts and the LEF Foundation) Finalist - Public Art Planning Grant, 1999
Semi-Finalist - International Video Art Award Competition. ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany, 1996
Rockefeller Foundation Intercultural Film/Video Fellowship, Pop Manifestos series, 1996
Creative Time, Inc., New York, NY - Public Postering Project Grant, 1995
New York State Council on the Arts - Media Production Grant, 1992
National Endowment for the Arts - Visual Artists Fellowship, New Genres, 1991
New York Foundation for the Arts - Fellowship in Video, 1991
Scholarly Work
Selected Videography (*Includes Collaborative Works with X-PRZ)
2015
Face.Value: von Trier, Bowie, Kanye Color, Stereo, 14 min. Music: David Bowie
2014
1!+ (a dubstep primer) Color, Stereo, 37 min. Music: Various
2012
Evil.48: (fn.know.it.alls) Color, Stereo, 6 min. Music: Various
Evil.26: hostile.2.me Color, Stereo, 3 min. Music: Lali Puna
Evil.35: Carlin / Owners Color, Stereo, 8 min. Music: Gang of Four
Evil.20 (Blood On My Hands) B&W, Stereo. 68 min. Music: Various (Video Installation)
Evil.20 (b.o.m.h.edit) B&W, Stereo. 22 min. Music: Shackleton
2011
Evil.16 (Torture.Musik) Color, Stereo. 17 min.
Evil.45 (ObL Speaks) Color, Stereo. 7 min. Music: Manic Street Preachers, Skream.
Evil.27 (Selma) Color, Stereo. 9 min. Music: Morrissey, The Smiths.
studio, time, isolation: reconstructions of soul and the sublime Color, Stereo. 10 min. Music: Cornel Campbell
RRK (Reading Rosalind Krauss) Color, Stereo. 5 min. Music: The Size Queens
2010
Evil.11 (The Katrina Debacle) Color, Stereo. 11 min. Music: Nico, Sam Cooke, Zomby
Evil.13 (Alternate Versions) (Multimedia Installation – 5 Channels of Video 120 min. total, 6 Vinyl Window Texts) Produced for First Berlin Documentary Forum as part of “Rules of Evidence: Text, Voice, Sight” Commission by Okwui Enwezor and Hila Peleg
2009
studio, time, isolation: reconstructions of soul and the sublime (study for pt.3) Color, Silent . 3 min.
Margins and Bubbles Pt.2 Color, Stereo. 13 min. Music: Coralcola
shrinking.criticism Color, Stereo. 16 min. Music: Kromestar, Ironsoul
2008
Evil.12 Fear, Spectra, and Fake Emotions Color, Stereo. 10 min. Music: Modeselektor w/ Paul St. Hilaire & Dabrye remix
leeds.talk.trailer Color, Stereo. 4 min. Music: The Martinez Brothers
leeds.talk.04 Color, Stereo. 13 min. Music: The Martinez Brothers, Cicada (Dirty South Remix)
2007
mikrohaus (or the black atlantic?) Color, Stereo. 30 min. Music: Thomas Brinkmann, Basic
Channel, Jan Jelinek, Mike Ink, Gheez n’ Gosh, Ricardo Villalobos, Akufen, Luomo
Evil.15 (On Teflon – 5Pts.) Color, Stereo. 28 min. Music: Magnetic Fields, Lai Puna, Stereolab
Guns & Poses (Remix).* Color, Stereo. 12 min. (Released 1997)
Black Celebration. B&W, Stereo. 17 Min. (Single-channel version of 'Black Celebration' with music by Skinny Puppy)Fade To Black Color. Stereo. 33 Min. Co-Producer: Donald Trammel.
DELAY/ENJOY (the invisible generation). Color, Silent. 60 min./ea. (2 Channel Video Installation)
Confession. B&W, Stereo. 28 min. Music: George Black & David Stowell.
Tales from Planet. Kolkata Co-writer, Performer. Director: Ruchir Joshi Color, Stereo. 37 min.
JST BCZ UR PARANOID DNT THNK THYR NT AFTR U (Malcolm X Pt 1)*. Color, Mono. 10 min. (Multimedia Installation - Video, Photo Lightboxes)
SWIPE 1.0. Audio Compact Disc, Stereo. 7 tracks, 37 min.
AD Vice. Color, Stereo. 7 min. Music: Swipe (Remastered in DV)
2@. Color, Stereo. 6 min. Music: Swipe (Remastered in DV)
Shrink.demos 1 – 4. Color, Stereo. 21 min. Music: The Notwist
5%. Color, Stereo. 9 min. Music: Swipe
3#. Color, Stereo. 5 min. Music: Seth Price
Shrink2.demos 1 – 4. Color, Stereo. 21 min. Music: The Notwist
Shrink3.demos 1 & 3. Color, Stereo. 11 min. Music: The Notwist
Black September. Color, Stereo. 1 min. Music: The Notwist
Black September (Evil.2/3). Color, Stereo. 2 min. Music: The Notwist
Pause. Color, Stereo. 16 min. Music: DJ Danger Mouse, Robert Lippok, DJ Mike
Headphones. Color, Stereo. 7 min. Music; Static (w/Ronald Lippok)
Evil.9 (mmmfs). Color, Stereo. 3 min. Music; Mocky
Evil.7 (iraq.deadly.chronology). Color, Stereo. 5 min. Music; Wir
1!. Color, Stereo. 22 min. Music: Michael Bell-Smith
Pop Manifestos. (Multimedia Installation - Seven Channels of Video, Audio Database)
Evil.6 (Faking). Color, Stereo. 10 min. Music: Lali Puna
Evil.10 (W2tDotR) Color, Stereo. 8 min. Music: The Notwist
6^. Color, Stereo. 5 min. Music: Damian KulashNO SELL OUT (or i wnt 2 b th ultimate commodity/machine). Malcolm X Pt. 2*. Color, Stereo.
The Book of Love. (Unreleased) Color, Mono. 58 Min. with Dorothy R. Cokes.
Word 2 My Mother. Color, Stereo. 60 min. (Multimedia Installation - Video, Computer Text Animation, Audio)
Background
Education and Training
| Year | Degree | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | MFA | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| 1979 | BA | Goddard College |
Honors and Awards
2010 AT&T Research Assistantship, Watson Institute for International Studies,
Brown University (for 'Evil Series' Global Conversation website), Providence, RI
2008 Resident Scholar / Artist-in-Residence, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, LA (9/08 - 6/09)
1998 Manning Assistant Professorship, Brown University, Providence, RI, Dept. of Modern Culture and Media, Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Research in Modern Culture
1996 Rockefeller Foundation Intercultural Film/Video Fellowship
1994 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, New York, NY - Multi-media installation art
1993 Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond, VA - Alumni Star, School of the Arts
1992 United States/France Artists Exchange Fellowship National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)/American Center, Paris, France (9/92 - 3/93)
1991 Golden Gate Award - San Francisco International Film Festival
1991 Video Experimental, 2nd Prize - Athens International Film and Video Festival, Ohio University, Athens, OH
1991 Prized Pieces Award. (Winner: Cultural Affairs Doc.) - National Black Programming Consortium, Columbus, OH
1990 Agit-Prop Video Award - Video Witnesses: A Festival of New Journalism, Hallwalls, Buffalo, NY
1983 Sculpture Dept. Award, Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond, VA
Affiliations
Affiliations
2005 Seoul Film & Net Festival, Seoul, Korea - Juror, International Competition
2004 Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, Providence, RI- Review Panelist, Photography
2003 Illinois Arts Council, Chicago, IL - Review Panelist , Media Arts
1999 Massachusetts Cultural Council, Boston, MA - Review Panelist - Photography
1999 Rockefeller Foundation Intercultural Film/Video Fellowship, New York, NY - Review Panelist
1997 - present Electronic Arts Intermix, New York, NY- Artists Advisory Board
1996, 1997 Rockefeller Foundation Intercultural Film/Video Fellowship, New York, NY - Nominating Committee
1995 - 2001 College Art Association
1994 - 97 New Museum of Contemporary Art , New York, NY- Artists Advisory Board
1993 ArtsLink, New York, NY - Advisory Panelist, Visual Arts Program
1992 School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA - Panelist, Post-Graduate Travel Fellowship
Teaching
Teaching Overview
MCM0780 "Soundtracks: Sound and Visual Media" - This production course examines the role of sound in film, video, and media installation forms. The listening and visual media screenings emphasize the critical usage of audio in the works of selected artists, filmmakers, and sound artists. Readings by theorists and producers will examine the possibilities for sound production as a key register of modern social and aesthetic experience.
MCM1700F "Theory For Practice / Practice As Theory" is a course focused on relations between theory and practice in art and media forms. The course examines how recent creative practices use theoretical concepts, and how practices today often feature theoretical implications, or explicit textual production.
MCM1700D "Reframing Documentary Production: Concepts, Methods, and Questions" - An advanced seminar for students of video and/or film production. Focuses on the critical discussion and production of documentary. A major project (10-20 minutes) and in-class presentations of work-in-progress required. Readings on the theory and practice of the form and selective screenings augment the presentation of student work.
Teaching
| MCM 0730 - Introduction to Video Production: Critical Strategies and Histories |
| MCM 0730A - Introduction to Video Production: Critical Strategies and Histories |
| MCM 0730B - TV/Not TV: Theory and Practice |
| MCM 0730B - TV/Not TV: Theory and Production |
| MCM 0780 - Soundtracks: Sound Production and Visual Media |
| MCM 0780A - Soundtracks: Sound Production and Visual Media |
| MCM 1700D - Reframing Documentary Production: Concepts and Questions |
| MCM 1700F - Theory for Practice / Practice as Theory |
| MCM 1702L - TV/Video: Theory/Practice |