Public guided tour | Tony Cokes

The American artist Tony Cokes (born 1956 in Richmond, Virginia) is best known for his unique video works: He combines text quotes with bright colors and pop music to create precisely edited video essays that appeal to both the mind and the senses.

Like a DJ, Cokes "samples" and "remixes" fragments from pop culture and mass media in order to subvert their prevailing codes. Since the late 1980s, the artist has been criticizing media and power relations, racism and consumerism. His sources include film footage, journalistic and philosophical texts and social media. Recently, he has broadened his focus to include the history and reception of conceptual art and minimalism.

The Liechtenstein Art Museum has invited Tony Cokes to enter into a dialog with the collection. Let Yourself Be Free shows light boxes as well as written and video installations by the artist - including one from the museum's collection - together with a new commission and works by various artists from the collection.

The principle of (unexpected) juxtaposition, of remixing and reinterpreting, characterizes the exhibition as much as the work of Tony Cokes himself.

A production of the Liechtenstein Art Museum, curated by Letizia Ragaglia.