Coco Fusco

Coco Fusco, included in the group exhibition Age of Terror: Art Since 9/11 at the Imperial War Museum, London.

The complex issues surrounding the global response to 9/11, the nature of modern warfare and the continuing state of emergency in which we find ourselves have become compelling subject matter for contemporary artists. Artists’ unique ways of communicating through their art provide different levels of understanding. The stories they tell, whether first or second-hand, come from alternative viewpoints not always reflected in the mainstream media, often challenge our perceptions. Through 50 works of art including film, sculpture, painting, installations, photography and prints, many of which are exhibited publicly in the UK for the first time, this exhibition highlights the crucial role of artists in representing contemporary conflict. 

The exhibition explores four key themes: artists’ direct or immediate responses to the events of 9/11, issues of state surveillance and security, our complex relationship with firearms, bombs and drones and the destruction caused by conflict on the landscape, architecture, and people. One of the highlights of the exhibition is Iván Navarro’s The Twin Towers (2011), is exhibited in the UK for the first time. Navarro’s neon light installations recede deep within themselves, creating the illusion of an infinite concave space. The exhibition also includes Dolls at Dungeness September 11th 2001 (2001) by Grayson Perry, Ai Weiwei’s Surveillance Camera with Plinth (2015), in which the artist memorialises the apparatus of CCTV surveillance by replicating it in marble, and Drone Shadow (2017) – a site-specific installation by James Bridle, installed on the floor of the Atrium at IWM London.

Age of Terror: Art Since 9/11 
IWM London
Lambeth Road
London SE1 6HZ
United Kingdom