Matthew Barney: SECONDARY

In SECONDARY, world-renowned artist and filmmaker Matthew Barney explores the spectacle of violence in American football and culture. This is the definitive two-volume companion to this important work.

SECONDARY is a five-channel video installation, performed in Barney’s Long Island City studio in 2023, then in London, Paris, and Los Angeles in 2024. The plot revolves around an accident that occurred during a football game in 1978, when Oakland Raiders’ Jack Tatum delivered an open field hit on Darryl Stingley, a wide receiver for the New England Patriots. Stingley was left paralyzed. The tragic event remained seared in the minds of American fans, including Barney himself, a youth-league quarterback at the time.

Through allusion to American sports culture, SECONDARY explores the complex intersection of violence, its representation, and its celebration. It reimagines the game through a unique movement vocabulary. The result is a physical study that focuses on every element of the game, from drills and pre-game rituals to moments of impact and their slow-motion replays.

Volume 1 explores SECONDARY in depth, with essays by leading contemporary voices. Volume 2 maps the life of Barney’s former Long Island City studio, where SECONDARY premiered to the public.

Matthew Barney (b. 1967) is celebrated for his cinematic work, including the Cremaster Cycle (1994–2002), River of Fundament (2014), and Redoubt (2019). Eric Banks is director of the New York Institute for the Humanities. Jonathan Bepler is the composer and sound designer of Secondary. Raven Chacon is a composer, performer, and installation artist. Mark Godfrey is an art historian and independent curator based in London. Frank Andre Guridy is a historian and writer who teaches at Columbia University. Kathy Halbreich is an independent curator and philanthropy advisor. Juliette Lecorne is curator at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris. Helen Marten is an artist and writer based in London. Maggie Nelson is the author of twelve acclaimed books, many of which have become cult classics. Louise Neri is the founding director of Extraterritorial, an international consulting platform. David Thomson is an interdisciplinary artist and dancer.