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ClampArt is pleased to present Joseph Desler Costa’s exhibition “Soft Powers,” the artist’s second solo show at the gallery, and his fourth in New York City.

Soft Power is the ability to attract and co-opt, rather than coerce by force. Popular media, algorithms, and advertising campaigns subtly shape human desire through appeal and attraction, leading the public to adopt and consume culture, taste, and values over time.

As a political concept and strategy, soft power reached its peak in the 1980s and 1990s during the Cold War. The United States, having less successfully exerted its authority …