Coco Fusco delivers a free, public lecture about the situation of contemporary Cuban artists, specifically their ongoing protests against new laws that impose restrictions on independent art, as part of the Intra-Disciplinary Seminar series. In the talk, Fusco will consider how the current situation in Cuba relates to a global shift toward a future of conservatism.

Coco Fusco is an interdisciplinary artist and writer. She is the author of Dangerous Moves: Performance and Politics in Cuba (2015) and The Bodies That Were Not Ours: And Other Writings (2001). Fusco is a recipient of a 2018 Rabkin Prize for Visual Arts Journalism, a 2016 Greenfield Prize, a 2014 Cintas Fellowship, a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2013 Absolut Art Writing Award, a 2013 Fulbright Fellowship, a 2012 US Artists Fellowship, and a 2003 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts. Fusco's performances and videos have been presented in the 56th Venice Biennale, Frieze Special Projects, two Whitney Biennials (2008 and 1993), BAM’s Next Wave Festival, and numerous international biennials. Her works have also been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, The Walker Art Center, KW Institute of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona. She is represented by Alexander Gray Associates in New York.

The Spring 2019 IDS Lecture Series at The Cooper Union is organized by Leslie Hewitt and Omar Berrada. The IDS Public Lecture Series is part of the Robert Lehman Visiting Artist Program at The Cooper Union. We are grateful for major funding and support from the Robert Lehman Foundation for the series. The IDS Public Lecture Series is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.