Pretty packaging obscures ugly message in art show

One of art’s great roles is to make your blood run faster. By that measure, it’s definitely worth a trip to the Brown faculty exhibition at the Bell Gallery, in Providence, (through Dec. 21) to see how Tony Cokes exposes and lampoons anti-Jewish rhetoric in his “Face Value Pt. 1” installation.

Cokes’ piece both engages and shocks with its use of the outrageous words of Danish film director Lars von Trier. At a news conference during the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, von Trier went on a disjointed rant in which he declared himself a Nazi and expressed considerable sympathy for Albert Speer, a key aide to Hitler, and Hitler himself.

Cokes has appropriated von Trier’s exact words and transforms them into art on a video screen. He uses a seductive bright red background around white text and adds as audio the 1970s pop anthem “Young Americans” by David Bowie. From a distance, it looks like a slick, shrewd advertisement. Cokes’ cleverness, even insidiousness, is through his graphically attractive presentation of von Trier’s comments: If you don’t read the words, it looks, well, pretty. And within Cokes’ piece are important lessons for those who seek to promote a fair image of Jews and Israel.

Some of von Trier’s comments - such as “I am an American woman. Or 65 percent of me is” – can be dismissed as nonsensical. But when it comes to Hitler and Speer, his coziness is devious and highly disturbing. Of Hitler, he says, “I think he did some wrong things, yes absolutely…   But yeah, I understand much about him and I sympathize with him a little bit.” About Speer, he says, “I’m very much for Speer… . He was also maybe one of God’s best children.”

Von Trier says he believed he was Jewish for a long time, and then learned he wasn’t. He says he is for Jews but “not too much” because of the truculence and disagreeableness of Israel. He closes by saying, “Okay, I’m a Nazi.”

What’s afoot in Cokes’ piece, and what makes it so thought-provoking, is that the viewer is drawn in by the aesthetic. The sentiments of von Trier are truly ugly – but they look inviting, even attractive. And the bouncy Bowie soundtrack adds to the sense of being in a sort of entertaining wonderland, rather than a house of horrors.

As in Cokes’ “Face Value,” it’s an understatement to say that appearances can be deceiving these days on the broader scene. Confronting anti-Semitism in the modern world is a complicated challenge. The growth of modern media, with all its bells and whistles, has made it possible to spew hate in a seemingly beautiful and acceptable way. Looking back at the propaganda of the Nazis, or the Ku Klux Klan in this country, the materials seem primitive and easy to see through. Today, the sophisticated means of messaging can be used to camouflage hate and make it look presentable, even enticing.

The response to such deceptive efforts is a laser-like focus on content and the message, and not being distracted by looks. To not be fooled or lulled takes careful, measured analysis and discipline. There are messages about Jews and Israel in all sorts of media today, and to decode the meaning is harder than ever before – yet that work is crucial on the path to fighting back. 

NOEL RUBINTON is a consultant and writer based in Providence.