Secondary: Matthew Barney

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.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rizzoli Electa
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 1, 2025
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 396 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 084783381X
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0847833818
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.63 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.63 x 1.53 x 11.97 inches