Kunstverein München e.V.
Galeriestr. 4
80539 Munich, Germany
June 10–September 11, 2022
Haus der Kunst
Prinzregentenstr. 1
80538 Munich, Germany
June 10–October 23, 2022
The first institutional solo exhibition, Fragments, or just Moments, by the US-American artist Tony Cokes in Germany also marks the first comprehensive collaboration between Kunstverein München and Haus der Kunst and is the result of an extensive dialogue between the artist, the institutions, and their archives over the past two years. Cokes connects the venues located in close proximity with newly commissioned works that are presented both in the two institutions and in the public space situated between them.
Cokes’s new works examine the past of both venues by drawing on historical source material. The starting point, on the one hand, is the propagandistic link between the two exhibition sites during the Nazi era when the Haus der Deutschen Kunst opened in 1937 with the first iteration of the Great German Art Exhibition and, in its immediate vicinity in the Hofgarten building, which since the 1950s houses Kunstverein München, the Degenerate Art exhibition opened. On the other hand, Cokes’s new works center around the institutions’ cultural-political role in the context of the 20th Olympic Games in Munich in 1972. As a “celebration of peace,” they were intended to represent a radical antithesis to the games last held in Nazi Germany in 1936 and to present the country on an international level as a successfully denazified and cosmopolitan state. This political recoding was expressed both in the architecture of the new Olympic Stadium, the infrastructural expansion of the city, as well as a comprehensive design for the games by graphic designer Otl Aicher. Cokes, whose audiovisual works explore the affective politics of image, color, and typography, considers this design particularly with regard to its color concept and its associated ideology.
The artist’s engagement with the event extends into public space with new works installed in various locations on the public walkway between the institutions, including the underpass, which was constructed as part of the visitors’ route for the national sports event, and on the fence of the US Consulate General. In doing so, Cokes creates a mapping and enables the negotiation of public remembrance in the year that marks the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics.
For more than three decades, Tony Cokes (b. 1956, Richmond, Virginia, US) has explored the ideology and affect politics of media and popular culture and their impact on societies. Departing from a critique of the representation and visual commodification of African American communities in film, television, advertising, and music videos, the artist has developed a unique form of video essay that radically rejects representational imagery. These fast-moving works are made from found textual as well as sound material from various sources such as critical theory, online journalism, literature, and pop music. Composed of a range of socio-cultural references, the collages allow for a new way of thinking about structural racism, capitalism, warfare, and gentrification.
Fragments, or just Moments is accompanied by a catalog with contributions by Tina Campt and Tom Holert as well as an introduction by the exhibition curators of Kunstverein München and Haus der Kunst, which will be published by DISTANZ in September 2022. The exhibition is also accompanied by an extensive program of events taking place in and between the two institutions.
The exhibition at Kunstverein München is curated by Maurin Dietrich, Gloria Hasnay, and Gina Merz.
The exhibition at Haus der Kunst is curated by Emma Enderby and Elena Setzer.
For further information, please contact the respective press office of Kunstverein München and Haus der Kunst.
