Tony Cokes is a visual artist whose video installations and text-based media works probe the ideological formations of popular culture, structural racism, and memory. Beginning in the late 1980s with works like Black Celebration (A Rebellion Against the Commodity), he has employed found images, quotes from cultural theorists and musicians, and rhythmic soundtracks to challenge dominant narratives and demand critical engagement. His methods combine archival footage, typography, and music to reveal how media shapes collective perception and amplifies power structures.

A professor in Brown University’s Department of Modern Culture and Media since 1993, Cokes directs undergraduate studies and has served as interim chair of the department. In 2024 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, which supports his ongoing interdisciplinary media practice. Recent presentations of his work took place at Dia Bridgehampton and the Hessel Museum of Art. Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein will open a solo exhibition, Tony Cokes: Works & Contexts, in September 2025.