Art, Gender, Power, and the F Word

Abstract

Coco Fusco is a New York City-based interdisciplinary artist, writer, professor, and cultural critic. For the past twenty years, her work has been presented around the world to much acclaim including in the Whitney Biennial, Sydney Biennale, Johannesburg Biennial, Kwangju Biennale, and Shanghai Biennale. She has published four books and is currently an associate professor at Columbia University's School of the Arts. Over the past seven years, I have had the privilege of experiencing her work, hearing her lecture, and engaging her in dialogue. The questions posed during this interview originate from a conversation started in Fall 2003, when Fusco was the keynote speaker at the Society for Photographic Education conference in New Jersey (which I co-chaired). She spoke eloquently about her research concerning racial taxonomy in American photography, which resulted in the exhibition and book Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self. Our most recent conversation occurred during her Fall 2007 Fringe Festival performance in Philadelphia and subsequent lecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where she shared her current research on gender and war. COLETTE COPELAND: In Jean Fisher's essay from your book The Bodies That Were Not Ours: And Other Writings (2001) she writes that your work employs a whole gamut of subversive tactics, from the scholarly text to parody, satire and 'shape shifting' that frustrate attempts at categorization and assimilation. Your artistic identity spans many dimensions--university professor, cultural theorist, curator, and performance and multi-media visual artist. How do the different facets of your practice inform/complement or compete with each other? Most people would be satisfied succeeding in just one of those fields. Is Fisher's assumption valid? What drives your desire to work across so many disciplines? COCO FUSCO: The first artists I studied with in the 1970s and early 1980s were interdisciplinary in their approach. The person who I consider my mentor has written novels, run an underground press, made photographs, installations, experimental films, and sculpture. I learned to approach artmaking by starting with ideas and then figuring out what media would be best for the realization of the work. Many artists I admire--Allan Sekula, Mary Kelly, and Dan Graham come to mind--write in addition to making visual art. It is really not so unusual. I write in order to feel like I am thinking clearly, so writing accompanies just about everything I do. Because performance is ephemeral, many practitioners of the medium document their acts with written documents--chronicles, seripts, lists of ideas or actions, instructions, etc. CC: We've spoken before about the role of research in your work and its importance. During your recent trip to Philadelphia, we briefly discussed how the art world mistrusts research within artistic practice. Perhaps this is due to the residual myth about artists creating in vacuums. Or perhaps this could be attributed to the residue of formalism. Could you address this mistrust and then expand upon how your research becomes synthesized into your practice? CF: My work explores social and political forces and processes--to be able to understand my material, I have to get out in the world and get into the library from time to time. Art involves thought and engages the mind, not just the senses. However, in the current anti-intellectual arts environment, it is not uncommon for artists and critics to demonize those artists who speak lucidly about their artistic practice. It never ceases to amaze me that many artists and critics continue to mystify creativity, so as to make it seem as though it does not involve the intellect. I am not so sure if there is a mistrust of research or what is perceived as intellectual or scholarly activity. My sense is that many artists see intellectualism as detrimental or even anathema to their imaginative or creative capacities--they have bought into a view of artmaking that is utterly romantic. …