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Walid Raad

How does war affect bodies, minds, and cultures? This is the main theme of Lebanese artist major solo show at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston.

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  • 23 February 2016
  • Boston

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) opens a comprehensive survey of the artist Walid Raad (b. 1967, Lebanon), a pivotal figure in contemporary art whose work investigates the ways in which we represent, remember, and make sense of history.

“Walid Raad” brings together over 200 works across various mediums—including photography, video, sculpture, and performance. Informed by his upbringing in Lebanon during the civil war (1975–90) and by the socioeconomic and military policies that have shaped the Middle East in the past few decades, Raad’s work is dedicated to exploring archives and photographic documents in the public realm, the role of memory and narrative within discourses of conflict, and the construction of histories of art in the Arab world.

Top: Walid Raad, Let’s be honest, the weather helped_Saudi Arabia, 1998/2006, pigmented inkjet print, 18 7/16 x 28 ½ inches (46.8 x 72.4 cm). Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. T.B. Walker Acquisition Fund. © 2015 Walid Raad. Left: Walid Raad, Civilizationally, we do not dig holes to bury ourselves_Plate 922, 1958-59/2003, pigmented inkjet print, 10 x 8 inches (25.4 x 20.3 cm). Courtesy the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. © 2015 Walid Raad

The exhibition focuses on two of the artist’s long-term projects: The Atlas Group (1989–2004) and Scratching on things I could disavow (2007–ongoing). These two distinct projects are united by the question: How does war affect bodies, minds, and cultures? Under the rubric of The Atlas Group, a 15-year project exploring the contemporary history of Lebanon, Raad produced photographs, videotapes, notebooks, and lectures that related imaginary stories. The stories were inspired in part by real events and extensive research in Lebanon’s various archives and elsewhere. Raad’s recent work has expanded to address the Middle East region at large. His ongoing project Scratching on things I could disavow examines the recent emergence in the Arab world of new infrastructures for the visual arts—art fairs, biennials, museums, and galleries—alongside the geopolitical, economic, and military conflicts that have consumed the region in the past few decades. The exhibition also features a series of live, in-gallery performances by Raad.

Walid Raad, <i>We decided to let them say “we are convinced” twice. It was more convincing this way</i>, 1982/2004, pigmented inkjet print, 44 x 67 inches (110.5 x 171 cm). Courtesy the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut/Hamburg. © 2015 Walid Raad
Walid Raad, <i>Miraculous beginnings/No, illness is neither here nor there</i> (still), 1993/2003, two-channel video (color, silent), 1:50 minutes. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. © 2015 Walid Raad
Walid Raad, <i>Let’s be honest, the weather helped_Finland</i>, 1998/2006, pigmented inkjet print, 18 7/16 x 28 1/2 inches (46.8 x 72.4 cm). Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. T.B. Walker Acquisition Fund. © 2015 Walid Raad
Walid Raad, <i>Hostage: The Bachar tapes (English version)</i>, 2001, video (color, sound), 16:17 minutes. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the Jerome Foundation in honor of its founder, Jerome Hill, 2003. © 2015 Walid Raad
Walid Raad, <i>Section 88: Views from outer to inner compartments</i>, 2010, video (color, silent), 14:36 minutes. Courtesy the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. © 2015 Walid Raad


from February 24 until May 30, 2016
Walid Raad
curated by Eva Respini with Katerina Stathopoulou
organized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
100 Northern Ave, Boston

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