AS AMERICA TURNS 250, ARTIST RYAN BOCK EXAMINES THE WARNING SIGNS OF A NATION IN DECLINE WITH YOUNG AMERICANS

A month-long exhibition opening July 4 in New York City that combines visual art, performance, film, readings, and public dialogue to explore power, patriotism, identity, and the future of the American experiment

NEW YORK, NY —Opening this Independence Day as the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, New York-based artist Ryan Bock (BOCKHAUS) presents YOUNG AMERICANS, an immersive exhibition and month-long public forum that examines the warning signs of societal decline through visual art, performance, film, readings, and public dialogue.

The project takes inspiration in part from Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb’s influential essay The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival. After studying more than a dozen civilizations spanning thousands of years, Glubb concluded that great empires tend to follow a remarkably consistent lifecycle lasting roughly 250 years, progressing through stages of expansion, conquest, commerce, affluence, intellectual achievement, decadence, and eventual decline. Whether viewed as a cautionary tale, historical coincidence, or cultural mirror, Glubb’s theory serves as a starting point for YOUNG AMERICANS, which will be presented at 279 Broome Street from July 4–27, 2026, in collaboration with Satellite Art Show.

Featuring selected works from major series, some of which have never before been exhibited in the United States, YOUNG AMERICANS highlights Bock’s decade-long examination of authoritarianism, nationalism, propaganda, political spectacle, consumer culture, historical memory, and the commodification of identity.

“YOUNG AMERICANS began with a question I’ve been wrestling with for years: Why do people remain loyal to systems that no longer serve them?” said Bock. “We hold onto stories, symbols, and ideals because they help us make sense of who we are. This exhibition asks what happens when we examine those stories honestly, and whether we still have the courage not only to imagine something better, but to participate in creating it.”

A version of the American flag painted across the gallery floor by Bock transforms the act of entering the exhibition into an act of engagement. Visitors are invited to move through, across, and within one of the nation’s most recognizable symbols, blurring the line between observer and participant from the moment they step inside.

A central feature of the exhibition is a series of eight interactive articulated puppets, or “Jumping Jacks,” inspired by traditional European folk toys and the long history of political puppetry and satire. Activated directly by visitors, each mechanized figure embodies a distinct American archetype drawn from politics, religion, law enforcement, nationalism, and popular mythology, encouraging audiences to consider their own role in sustaining or challenging the systems and narratives that shape public life. Together, these works ask audiences to consider the complex relationship between patriotism, mythology, identity, and lived reality while physically inhabiting the space between them.

Throughout the month, the exhibition will also serve as a gathering space for historians, community leaders, filmmakers, performers, writers, and multidisciplinary artists who will activate the gallery through screenings, lectures, readings, performances, workshops, and public dialogue. Together with Bock’s work, these events examine the stories Americans tell themselves about power, patriotism, identity, freedom, and national destiny while creating opportunities for connection, conversation, and civic engagement.

Among the month’s programming is Dispatches from the Fourth World, a live serialized performance series by photographer and educator Joseph Cochran II. Assuming the role of newsroom correspondent, Cochran delivers a scripted monologue and hosts a moderated conversation with a guest whose life sits at the intersection of the forces under examination; financial and algorithmic capture, institutional failure, delusions of grandeur, the cost of war, and what those forces leave behind. Airing every Sunday from July 5th through July 26th, the series culminates in a public conversation between Cochran and Bock. Where Young Americans asks what we have made of this country, Dispatchesasks what it’s made of us.

YOUNG AMERICANS is an invitation to move beyond spectatorship. By creating opportunities for dialogue, connection, and exchange throughout the month, the exhibition seeks to encourage civic engagement, community building, and a renewed sense of agency at a moment when many Americans feel increasingly disconnected from one another and the systems that shape their lives.

EXHIBITION DETAILS

YOUNG AMERICANS will be on view July 4–27, 2026, at 279 Broome Street, presented in collaboration with Satellite Art Show.

The exhibition will be open seven days a week* from 1:00 PM–6:00 PM and is easily accessible via the F, J, M, and Z trains.

Throughout the month, Bock will also host a rotating schedule of evening programming from 6:00 PM–9:00 PM, including lectures, readings, film screenings, live music, performances, and public dialogue.

The full schedule will be announced in the weeks to come.

 

*The gallery will be closed Monday, July 6 and 20, and open only from 6:00 PM- 9:00 PM on Monday, July 13.

 

ABOUT RYAN BOCK

Ryan Bock is a masked interdisciplinary artist whose work centers on distorted figures with crooked limbs, sharp angles, and jagged shapes, drawing from the visual language of German Expressionism, Italian Futurism, Czech Cubism, and Dadaism. In addition to traditional gallery exhibitions, Bock has built a larger-than-life chess set, a haunted house, and various other interactive, immersive, and performative experiences that satirize authoritarian symbols and illuminate state violence.

Bock uses art to combat fascism. By embellishing his critiques with painting, drawing, puppetry, film, and animation, he challenges government propaganda, nationalism, imperialism, and white supremacy.

In 2024, as a director and curator, Bock co-founded the critically acclaimed MOONCALF alongside artist Luke Ivy Price and musician James Lambros. The experimental incubator for interdisciplinary art, performance, and ideas eschews the traditional art market and fights authoritarianism by uplifting free expression. MOONCALF  curated the installation of British artist KESH at the 2025 SPRING/BREAK Art Show in New York, as featured in Artnet, Hyperalleric and Time Out New York.

Since receiving his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Bock has exhibited his work at numerous galleries both nationally—New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, Chicago, and Oakland—and internationally—Paris, London, and Prague. His work has been featured in 16 solo exhibitions and in notable group shows including Educate and The Art of Voting at Christie’s New York and Why Are You Painting at the Honolulu Museum of Art. During his time with Apostrophe NYC’s Base 12 Project, he participated in unsolicited guerilla exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA PS1, and the MTA’s Kosciuszko Street J train station in Brooklyn. Recent solo exhibitions include HEREINSPAZIERT! at Museumsgesellschaft Gießen, Germany; Ode to Duchamp: A Liar at SPRING/BREAK Art Show; and I’m Not Funded by the CIA at Ki Smith Gallery, Manhattan, NY. Bock currently shows with Ki Smith Gallery, and has works in several prominent private and public collections.

Follow Ryan Bock here for the latest details about YOUNG AMERICANS and other upcoming works.