Coco Fusco's Mid-Career Survey Exhibition at El Museo del Barrio

Coco Fusco's first U.S. mid-career retrospective, titled 'Tomorrow, I Will Become an Island,' is currently on display at El Museo del Barrio in New York. Curated by Susanna V. Temkin and Rodrigo Moura, the exhibition presents works spanning performance, video, photography, and installation created over three decades. Fusco emerged as a significant voice during 1990s debates on identity politics and multiculturalism, which she has consistently critiqued. The show organizes her output into four thematic sections: 'Immigrant Narratives,' 'Intercultural Misunderstandings,' 'Interrogation Tactics,' and 'Poetry and Power.' A central piece is her early collaborative performance with Guillermo Gómez Peña, 'Two Undiscovered Amerindians Visit the West' (1992–94), which involved the artists posing as fictional indigenous people in a cage to critique colonial viewing practices. Other notable works include the video 'La confesión' (2015), examining Cuba's Padilla Affair, and 'La plaza vacía' (2012), depicting Havana's deserted Revolution Plaza. The exhibition also features recent projects like the photographic series 'Everyone Who Lives Here Is a New Yorker' (2025), which reinterprets historical Ellis Island portraits with contemporary immigrants. Fusco's practice interrogates issues of race, gender, migration, labor, and state power, positioning her as a key figure in institutional critique focused on colonial legacies. The exhibition argues for the continued relevance of her work amid current cultural conflicts and political conservatism.