3#
Tony Cokes
American, born 1956
2001
A three-minute standard‑definition video that pairs a flat color screen and bold printed text with a soundtrack to assert that pop music functions as a social praxis.
You’re confronted by an unapologetic orange field with centered black serif lettering—presented like a billboard or lecture slide—so the words themselves become the work’s visual subject.
By foregrounding text and sound, Cokes exposes how popular music both reflects and shapes social power, extending text‑based video art as a tool for media critique and cultural politics.
Medium
Standard-definition video (color, sound)
Dimensions
3:50 min.
Classification
Department
Credit
Committee on Media and Performance Funds
Accession
511.2021
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
