Screening Tony Cokes at Stadhuisbrug, Utrecht

From 16 October–29 November 2020, the work c.my.skull.2. (Evil.13: Alternate Versions) by Tony Cokes is screened in public space as part of Tony Cokes: To Live as Equals!

The work is currently screened at Utrecht City Hall, Stadhuisbrug 1 (note: the window itself is located at Ganzenmarkt), until Sunday 29 November 2020, Mondays−Sundays from 08.00–24.00 hrs. With special thanks to the City Council of Utrecht. Earlier, the video was screened in the  window of Stadhuisbrug 5 (former bookstore Broese), until Monday 2 November 2020, with thanks to Art Utrecht.

Artwork description:
Tony Cokes, c.my.skull.2. (Evil.13: Alternate Versions), 2010
11:36 MIN.

“How can we see to it that the past becomes front-page news?” c.my.skull.2. (Evil.13: Alternate Versions) presents selected text from Antjie Krog’s Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa. The book reflects on and recounts the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in South Africa (1996–2000). Excerpts include Thomzama Maliti’s account of the violent murder of her mother Nombulelo Delato, and a description of the reading out of the names of 120 people who died in police custody—such as Bantu Stephen Biko and other anti-Apartheid activists. “They fall like chimes into the silence,” the slide reads. Unlike the other works in Tony Cokes’s voluminous Evil-series (2001–ongoing), that typically combine appropriated texts with pop songs, this work is silent. Addressing questions of medium, language and access, and the psychological effects of apprehending such brutal reports, c.my.skull.2. examines the dilemmas at play in the reporting of violence.

Courtesy Greene Naftali, New York. With special thanks to Art Utrecht and the City Council of Utrecht.