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'<!-- {{Infobox actor | name = Coco Fusco | image = | imagesize = | caption = }}-->{{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Coco Fusco | honorific_suffix = | image = <!-- just the pagename, without the File:/Image: prefix or [[brackets]] --> | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Juliana Emilia Fusco Miyares | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|06|18}} | birth_place = [[New York City, New York]] | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = Cuban-American | education = [[Brown University]] (1982), [[Stanford University]] (1985), [[Middlesex University]] (2007) | alma_mater = | known_for = Interdisciplinary art, writing | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = | awards = 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship, 2013 Absolut Art Writing Award, 2003 Herb Alpert Award | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = http://cocofusco.com | module = | native_name = | native_name_lang = }} '''Coco Fusco''' (born '''Juliana Emilia Fusco Miyares'''; June 18, 1960) is a [[Cuban-American]] [[interdisciplinary]] [[artist]], writer, and [[curator]] whose work has been exhibited and published internationally. Fusco's work explores [[gender]], identity, [[Race (classification of human beings)|race]], and power through [[Performance art|performance]], [[video]], [[Installation art|interactive installations]], and critical writing.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O8JdAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT203&lpg=PT203&dq=coco+fusco+el+ultimo+deseo&source=bl&ots=x2PGwUtOcF&sig=DxuUCTyK142kYyWJqL0_45g_9-A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwik6bmims_SAhXGZCYKHYxnDEYQ6AEIWDAN#v=onepage&q=coco%20fusco%20el%20ultimo%20deseo&f=false|title=Performance: A Critical Introduction|last=Carlson|first=Marvin|date=2013-12-16|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136498725|language=en}}</ref> == Early life and education == Fusco was born in 1960 in [[New York City]]. Her mother was a [[Cuban exile]] who had fled the [[Cuban Revolution|Cuban revolution]] that year.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://bombmagazine.org/article/1000179/coco-fusco|title=BOMB Magazine — Coco Fusco by Elia Alba|website=bombmagazine.org|language=en|access-date=2017-03-11}}</ref> She received a [[Bachelor's degree|B.A]] in [[Semiotics]] from [[Brown University]] in 1982, an [[Master's|M.A.]] in Modern Thought and Literature from [[Stanford University]] in 1985 and a [[Doctorate|Ph.D.]] in Art and Visual Culture from [[Middlesex University]] in 2005.<ref name="CV">[http://www.alexandergray.com/artists/coco-fusco "Coco Fusco"], Alexander Gray Associates. Retrieved 2014-11-23.</ref> == Career == After finishing graduate school in 1985, Fusco got involved with a group of Cuban artists, including [[José Bedia Valdés|Jose Bedia]]. She began traveling to <nowiki>[[Cuba]]</nowiki> and participating in the visual arts scene there, until in the mid-1990s she withdrew as a result of post-[[Cold War]] political and cultural changes in the country.<ref name=":1" /> Fusco has presented performances and videos in arts festivals worldwide, including the 56th [[Venice Biennale]], two [[Whitney Biennial]]s (2008, 1993), the [[Next Wave Festival]] at [[Brooklyn Academy of Music|BAM]], and Performa05.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cubanartnews.org/news/cuban-artists-at-the-venice-biennale|title=Cuban Artists at the Venice Biennale|website=www.cubanartnews.org|access-date=2017-03-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whitney.org/www/2008biennial/www/?section=artists&page=artist_fusco|title=2008 WHITNEY BIENNIAL|website=whitney.org|access-date=2017-03-12}}</ref> She is the recipient of the 2016 Greenfield Prize in Visual Art, a 2014 [[Oscar B. Cintas|Cintas Fellowship]], a 2013 [[Guggenheim Fellowship]], a 2013 Absolut Art Writing Award, a 2012 US Artists Fellowship, and a 2003 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, as well as grants from the [[Rockefeller Foundation]], the [[National Endowment for the Arts|NEA]] and [[New York Foundation for the Arts|NYFA]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://art.yale.edu/CocoFusco|title=Yale University School of Art: Coco Fusco|website=art.yale.edu|access-date=2017-03-12}}</ref> === ''Two Undiscovered Amerindians...'' === In 1992 Fusco created the influential performance piece ''Two Undiscovered [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Amerindians]] Visit the West'' in collaboration with [[Guillermo Gómez-Peña]].<ref name=":0" /> It was first presented at the [[Plaza Colón]] in [[Madrid]] and [[Covent Garden]] in [[London]], then toured to the Australian Museum of Natural Science in [[Sydney]] and the [[American Museum of Natural History|Museum of Natural History]] in [[New York City]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Taylor|first=Diana|date=1998-01-01|title=A Savage Performance: Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Coco Fusco's "Couple in the Cage"|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1146705|journal=TDR (1988-)|volume=42|issue=2|pages=160–175}}</ref> The performance was filmed as part of the [[Documentary film|documentary]] ''The Couple in the Cage'', directed by [[Paula Heredia]].<ref name=":0" /> During performances of ''Two Undiscovered Amerindians...,'' Fusco and Gómez-Peña put themselves on public display in a cage, in a satirical reference to the historical practice of [[Human zoo|exhibiting human beings]] as entertainment. They claimed to be natives of an undiscovered island in the [[Gulf of Mexico]], and performed tasks and rituals that were explained by [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] informational materials posted as part of the performance piece.<ref name=":0" /> Audience members were invited to interact with them, and could pay to take a photo or see them dance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bombmagazine.org/article/1599/|title=BOMB Magazine — Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gómez-Peña by Anna Johnson|website=bombmagazine.org|language=en|access-date=2017-03-12}}</ref> The work was a [[critique]] of [[colonialism]], specifically of the role played by the scientific institutions in which it was performed, and a response to the global [[Anniversary|quincentenary]] celebrations of [[Christopher Columbus|Christopher Columbus's]] arrival in [[Americas|the Americas]].<ref name=":2" /> === Selected performances === * ''Better Yet When Dead'' (1997), ''El Ultimo Deseo (The Last Wish,'' 1997), ''Votos (Vows,'' 1999), and ''El Evento Suspendido (The Suspended Event,'' 2000) used the imagery of death and burial to highlight the social restrictions and oppression experienced by women in [[Latin America|Latin American]] countries.<ref name=":0" /> * ''Stuff'' (1996), a collaboration with [[Nao Bustamante]], took a satirical look at [[globalism]] and [[Ethnic stereotype|cultural stereotypes]], especially those related to women and food.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fusco|first=Coco|last2=Bustamante|first2=Nao|date=1997-01-01|title=STUFF|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1146661|journal=TDR (1988-)|volume=41|issue=4|pages=63–82|doi=10.2307/1146661}}</ref> The piece makes a link between historical references to [[cannibalism]] and contemporary [[Geopolitics|geopolitical]] relationships.<ref>Allatson, Paul, "Coco Fusco, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, and 'American' Cannibal Reveries". In ''Latino Dreams: Transcultural Traffic and the U.S. National Imaginary''. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi Press, 2002, pp. 253–306.</ref> ''Stuff'' was commissioned by [[Highways Performance Space|Highway Performance Space]] and London's [[Institute of Contemporary Arts]],<ref>Weatherstone, Rosemary. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/theatre_journal/summary/v049/49.4pr_bustamante.html "Stuff review"], Project MUSE. Retrieved 2014-11-23.</ref> and premiered at the [[National Review of Live Art]] in [[Glasgow]] before touring internationally. * ''Rights of Passage (1997)'' was created for the [[Johannesburg Biennale]]. Fusco performed dressed as a [[South Africa|South African]] [[Women in law enforcement|policewoman]] to explore themes of race, identity, and the legacy of [[apartheid]] in South Africa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.moma.org/interactives/projects/1999/conversations/trans_cfusco.html|title=Coco Fusco|website=www.moma.org|access-date=2017-03-12}}</ref> * ''Bare Life Study'' #1 (2005), and ''A Room of One's Own: Women and Power in the New America'' (2005) were created in response to the "[[War on Terror]]" used performance to examine the expanding role of women in the [[United States Armed Forces|US military]] and the use of [[torture]] in its operations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Beckman|first=Karen|year=2009|title=Gender, Power, and Pedagogy in Coco Fusco's "Bare Life Study" #1 (2005), "A Room of One's Own" (2005), and "Operation Atropos" (2006)|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41552543?seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents|journal=Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media|volume=50|pages=125–138|via=JSTOR}}</ref> * In ''Observations of Predation In Humans: A Lecture by Dr. Zira, Animal Psychologist'' (2013), Fusco performed as the [[primate]] Dr. Zira from ''[[Planet of the Apes]],'' using the perspective of the non-human character to comment on [[human behavior]]. The performance was commissioned by [[Studio Museum in Harlem|The Studio Museum in Harlem]] and premiered in December 2013.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.artforum.com/words/id=44278|title=Coco Fusco talks about her latest performance|last=Expósito|first=As told to Frank|work=artforum.com|access-date=2017-03-11|language=en_US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://magazine.art21.org/2014/08/05/uncaged-coco-fusco-and-planet-of-the-apes/|author=Alba, Elia|title=Uncaged: Coco Fusco and Planet of the Apes|website=Art21 Magazine|date= 2014-08-05|access-date=2017-03-12}}</ref> === Writing and Teaching === As a writer, Coco Fusco has focused on gender, race, colonialism, and power structures in Latin America and around the world. Her body of work includes interviews, critical essays, and six published books. ''Dangerous Moves: Performance and Politics in Cuba'' (2015) is a history of public space, performance, and identity in Cuba.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/gracebanks/2015/08/21/artist-coco-fusco-on-her-new-book-about-politics-in-cuba/#291830e91fa8|title=Artist Coco Fusco On Her New Book About Politics in Cuba|last=Banks|first=Grace|work=Forbes|access-date=2017-03-12}}</ref> ''A Field Guide for Female Interrogators'' (2008), a companion volume to her performance ''A Room of One's Own: Women and Power in the New America'' (2005), examines the sexualized role of women in US military [[Interrogation|interrogations]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dolan|first=Jill|date=2009-01-01|editor-last=Fusco|editor-first=Coco|title=The Art of Interrogation|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20476818|journal=The Women's Review of Books|volume=26|issue=2|pages=3–4}}</ref> ''Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self'' (2003, edited with Brian Wallis), is the catalogue for a photography exhibition of the same name, curated by Fusco and Wallis at the [[International Center of Photography]], which looked at racial imagery in photography and the representation of racial attitudes in the United States.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Veneciano|first=Jorge Daniel|date=2005-01-01|editor-last=Fusco|editor-first=Coco|editor2-last=Wallis|editor2-first=Brian|title=Tinting the American Subject|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20068372|journal=Art Journal|volume=64|issue=1|pages=113–115|doi=10.2307/20068372}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/art/reviews/n_9777/|title=Skin Games|website=NYMag.com|access-date=2017-03-12}}</ref> ''The Bodies that Were Not Ours and Other Writings'' (2001) is a collection of essays and interviews investigating the legacy of colonialism.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Heiferman|first=Marvin|last2=Bolt|first2=Tom|last3=Juarez|first3=Roberto|last4=Hunt|first4=David|last5=Anglesey|first5=Zoë|last6=Krasnow|first6=David|last7=Turner|first7=Grady T.|last8=Rosler|first8=Martha|last9=Harvey|first9=Matthea|date=2002-01-01|title=Editor's Choice|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40426700|journal=BOMB|issue=80|pages=16–22}}</ref> ''Corpus Delecti: Performance Art of the Americas'' (2000) is a scholarly work surveying [[Latinx]] performance art.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rivera-Servera|first=Ramón H.|date=2001-01-01|title=Review of Corpus Delecti: Performance Art of the Americas|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25068896|journal=Theatre Journal|volume=53|issue=1|pages=172–173}}</ref> ''English Is Broken Here: Notes on Cultural Fusion in the Americas'' (1995) was her first collection of interviews and essays, for which she won the 1995 [[Critics' Choice Movie Awards|Critics' Choice award]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kranz|first=Rachel|date=1995-01-01|editor-last=Fusco|editor-first=Coco|title=Culture Crosser|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4022231|journal=The Women's Review of Books|volume=12|issue=12|pages=11–11|doi=10.2307/4022231}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IW6-HM6FSH4C&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=coco+fusco+critics+choice+award+1995&source=bl&ots=Xz9du8L2u2&sig=gmsI0rE8XlGyvDhJkFzEp6PidKs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiGnYeO7s_SAhXM3YMKHUNPDUgQ6AEISjAM#v=onepage&q=coco%20fusco%20critics%20choice%20award%201995&f=false|title=Latino American Cinema: An Encyclopedia of Movies, Stars, Concepts, and Trends: An Encyclopedia of Movies, Stars, Concepts, and Trends|last=Baugh|first=Scott L.|date=2012-04-13|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313380372|language=en}}</ref> Fusco has taught on the arts faculties of [[Temple University]], [[Columbia University]], [[Parsons School of Design]], and [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]]. In 2014 she received a [[Fulbright Program|Fulbright]] appointment and served as the Distinguished Chair in the Visual Arts at [[Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado]] in [[São Paulo|São Paulo, Brazil]] for one year. Fusco currently serves as the Andrew Banks Endowed Chair at the [[University of Florida College of the Arts|College of the Arts at University of Florida]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cocofusco.com/|title=cocofusco.com|website=cocofusco.com|access-date=2017-03-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://arts.ufl.edu/directory/profile/59012|title=Coco Fusco {{!}} College of the Arts {{!}} University of Florida|website=arts.ufl.edu|access-date=2017-03-12}}</ref> ===Selected exhibitions=== *''Havana Postmodern: The New Cuban Art'' (1987), [[KCET]] Latino Consortium and for [[WNET]]'s Hispanic *''Norte:Sur'' (1990), the [[Mexican Museum]], San Francisco *''La Chavela Realty Company'' (1991), [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]], Brooklyn, NY *[[Smithsonian Institution]] (1992), Washington, D.C. *[[Field Museum of Natural History]] (1992), Chicago *[[Whitney Biennial|The Whitney Biennial]] (1993), The [[Whitney Museum of American Art]], New York, NY Fundacion Banco Patricios, [[Buenos Aires|Buenos Aires, Argentina]] [[Field Museum of Natural History]], Chicago, IL *Third International Performance Art Festival (1999), [[Odense|Odense, Denmark]] [[Washington State University]] Museum, Pullman, WA *''Stuff'' (1999), [[Rhode Island School of Design]], Providence, RI *''El Evento Suspendido'' (2000), El Espacio Aglutinador, [[Havana|Havana, Cuba]] *''House of World Cultures'' (2003), [[Berlin|Berlin, Germany]] *''The Incredible Disappearing Woman'' (2003), [[ICA, London]], UK *Shanghai Biennial (2003), [[Shanghai Art Museum]], Shanghai, China *''Collection Remixed: Learning to Read'' (2005), [[Bronx Museum of Art|Bronx Museum]], New York, NY *''Black Panther'' (2005), Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY *''My Country'' (2006), The Hungarian Cultural Center, New York, NY *''A Room of One's Own: Women and Power in the New America'' (2006), [[Performance Space 122]], New York, NY *''Killing Time'' (2007), [[Exit Art]], New York *''The Project'' (2008), New York, NY *[[Art Basel Miami Beach|Art Basel Miami]] (2012), Miami, FL *[[Contemporary Arts Museum Houston|Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston]] (2012), Houston, TX *[[Studio Museum in Harlem]] (2013), New York, NY *[[New Museum]] (2013), New York, NY *[[Walker Art Center]] (2014), Minneapolis, MN *[[Venice Biennale]] (2015) Venice, Italy *Alexander Gray Associates (2016), New York, NY == Selected videos == Coco Fusco works distributed by the [[Video Data Bank]] include: *''La Botella al Mar de María Elena'' ''(The Message in a Bottle from María Elena)'' (2015) 44:00, color, sound. *''La Confesion'' (2015) 30:00, color, sound. *''Operation Atropos'' (2006) 59:00 min, color, sound *''a/k/a Mrs. George Gilbert'' (2004) 31:00 min, B&W, sound *''Pochonovela: A Chicano Soap Opera ''(1996) 26:38 min, color, sound *''The Couple in the Cage: Guatianaui Odyssey'' (1993) 31:00 min, B&W and color, sound == Bibliography == *Allatson, Paul. "Coco Fusco, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, and 'American' Cannibal Reveries." In ''Latino Dreams: Transcultural Traffic and the U.S. National Imaginary''. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi Press, 2002. *Becker, Carl L. ''The Subversive Imagination: Artists, Society, and Responsibility.'' New York: Routledge, 1994. *Cenini, Martha. "Coco Fusco's Room: Rethinking Feminism after Guantanamo". ''n.paradoxa'' vol. 30, 2012. *Cotter, Holland. "Caught on Video: Fantasy Interrogation, Real Tension". ''[[The New York Times]]''. May 30, 2006, Section E/Column 1, p. 3. *Fusco, Coco. ''English is Broken Here.'' New York: The New Press, 1995. *Fusco, Coco (editor). ''Corpus Delecti: Performance Art of the Americas''. London and New York: Routledge, 2000. *Fusco, Coco. ''Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self.'' New York: International Center of Photography in Association with Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, 2003. *Fusco, Coco. ''A Field Guide for Female Interrogators'', New York, Seven Stories Press, 2008 *Fusco, Coco. ''Dangerous Moves: Performance and Politics in Cuba'', Tate Publishing, 2015 *Jones, Amelia. ''Performing the Body/Performing the Text.'' London and New York: Routledge, 1999. *Wallace, Brian. ''Art Matters: How the Culture Wars Changed America.'' New York: New York University Press, 1999. *Wallace, Michele. ''Black Popular Culture.'' New York: New Press, 1998. *Warr, Tracy. ''The Artist's Body.'' London: Phaidon, 2000. *Fusco, Coco. ''Pasos peligrosos. Performance y política en Cuba'' España: Turner, 2017. {{ISBN|9788416714421}} == References == {{Reflist|30em}} == External links == * [http://www.thing.net/~cocofusco/ Fusco's website] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080405081109/http://www.vdb.org/smackn.acgi%24artistdetail?FUSCOC Coco Fusco] in the [http://www.vdb.org/ Video Data Bank] * Holland Cotter, [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/30/arts/design/30fusc.html?_r=1&oref=slogin "Coco Fusco's 'Operation Atropos': Fantasy Interrogation, Real Tension"], ''The New York Times'', May 30, 2006 * [https://archive.is/20070708044440/http://www.cityofwomen-a.si/2001/coco_fusco.html Description of Fusco performances] * Coco Fusco, [http://www.brooklynrail.org/2014/05/art/one-step-forward-two-steps-back-thoughts-about-the-donelle-woolford-debate "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? Thoughts about the Donelle Woolford Debate"], ''The Brooklyn Rail'', May 6, 2014. Article Fusco wrote on the controversy around the 2014 Whitney Biennial. * [[Elia Alba]], [http://bombmagazine.org/article/1000179/coco-fusco "Coco Fusco"] (interview), ''BOMB'' Magazine, July 15, 2014. {{Performance art}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Fusco, Coco}} [[Category:1960 births]] [[Category:Alumni of Middlesex University]] [[Category:American people of Cuban descent]] [[Category:American performance artists]] [[Category:Cuban contemporary artists]] [[Category:American women performance artists]] [[Category:Artists from New York City]] [[Category:Brown University alumni]] [[Category:Columbia University faculty]] [[Category:Interdisciplinary artists]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Stanford University alumni]] [[Category:Temple University faculty]]'