Tony Cokes. Let Yourself Be Free

For over three decades, media artist Tony Cokes (b. 1956 in Richmond, Virginia, USA) has made work that scrutinizes the ideology and affective politics of media and pop culture. Based on a fundamental critique of the representation and visual commodification of African-American communities in film, television, commercials, and music videos, Cokes has developed a singular form of video essay that radically rejects representational imagery. Cokes employs strategies of appropriation widely used in music and DJ culture: using a kind of sampling and remixing, he arranges material sourced from film and pop music, journalistic and philosophical writings, and fragments from social media to fashion new narratives.

This publication is released in conjunction with Cokes’ solo exhibition Let Yourself Be Free (2025–2026) at Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, its title referencing a line from Aretha Franklin’s song “Think” (1968): “Let your mind go, let yourself be free.” The exhibition brought Cokes’ works into dialogue with works from the museum’s collection, opening up a layered encounter with (art) history in which the works could be seen in a new light, revealing their contemporary significance and political relevance.

Cokes’ principle of remixing also shapes the catalogue itself: an algorithm makes each of the 750 copies unique by selecting one of 30 cover colours and continually varying the publication’s image sequences that document Cokes’ video essays at various points in time.

With essays by Jordan Carter (Dia Art Foundation) and Christoph Cox (Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, The New School), as well as an extensive conversation between the artist and Letizia Ragaglia (Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein), the publication offers insight into Tony Cokes’ working methods, theoretical questions, and artistic practice.
 

Edited by Letizia Ragaglia
Foreword by Letizia Ragaglia
Contributions by Jordan Carter and Christoph Cox
Interview with Tony Cokes by Letizia Ragaglia
Graphic design by FONDAZIONE, fondazione.biz

Distanz Verlag, Berlin, 2026
Softback, 30.6 × 23 cm
224 pages, 512 colour illus.

ISBN 978-3-95476-807-3 (English/German)