Current Exhibitions
Current exhibitions at the Helen Day Art Center.
Wafaa Bilal: Agent Intellect
January 21st - April 4th, 2010
For more information on public programs, click here. For press releases, click here. |
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This solo exhibition is the most comprehensive of the artist's work ever in the United States. Bilal is an Iraqi-American (naturalized U.S. citizen) who came to the US in 1992 after fleeing |
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Saddam Hussein’s secret police and spending two years in refugee camps in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. He holds a BFA from the University of New Mexico and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is currently Assistant Professor of Photography and Imaging at New York University. Newsweek has called his work “breathtaking”, the Chicago Tribune named him “Artist of the Year” in 2007, GamePolitics named Wafaa Bilal one of the most politically fascinating people of the year 2008 and this year Bilal's book: Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun has made Booklist's top 10 Arts Books.
In 2005 Wafaa Bilal’s brother, Hadji was killed by a drone attack in Al Kufa, Iraq. At the time Wafaa was living and working in Chicago, in what he refers to as the “comfort zone.” The loss of his brother forced Bilal to consider his own personal relationship to his new home: America and his birth country: Iraq as well as the role technology plays in war and modern society. Hadji’s death was the genesis for Domestic Tension (2007). For 30 days, he lived inside a plexiglass-walled room and allowed Web browsers to shoot at him with a robotically trained paint gun, which they could control from their keyboards thousands of miles away. The book, co-authored with the journalist Kari Lydersen, Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun is a heart-wrenching documentation of Wafaa’s personal history and his experience during the Domestic Tension performance.
Leveraging his own personal connection and history with Iraq, Wafaa utilizes popular media formats like internet chat rooms and video games to question our virtual relationship to others and our desensitization to violence. His work explores the tension between what he terms the "comfort zone" -safe existence here in the U.S (his and ours)- and the "conflict zone" -in Iraq where his relatives are under constant threat. Trained as a photographer, his work now spans photography, video, installation and performance art. The exhibition will feature two site-specific installations, photography and documentary recreation of Domestic Tension. |
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Description of the Exhibition: |
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“Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those languages, or we remain mute.” —J. G. Ballard
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Wafaa Bilal: Agent Intellect features four major works representing a comprehensive overview of the past three years of the artist’s career. Domestic Tension Redux, a recreation of Bilal’s award winning 2007 performance piece will occupy the East Gallery. The main gallery will contain his new and ongoing series Ashes, a series of five large format photographs based on models Bilal constructs, and one of the models, Samarra. In the Ashes work Bilal uses the photographic technique called constructive photography which involves building models as reference points for new photographs of a past experience.
Included will be Bilal's 2008 work The Night of Bush Capturing: A Virtual Jihadi - a third generation appropriation of the 2004 video game Quest for Saddam (a single shooter, PC-based video game whose object was to hunt down Saddam Hussein) and Night of Bush Capturing (the same game, "re-skinned" by Global Islamic Media Front in 2007 to feature George W. Bush as the object of the hunt and reportedly used as a recruiting tool by Al Qaeda.) The artwork was censored twice in 2008 by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and at the Center for Independent Media by the city of Troy, NY. The ACLU is currently suing the city of Troy for their use of code violations to censure free speech.
A site-specific installation titled Mghaisil (a ritual funerary washing room in Najaf, Iraq) is a contemplative space created to consider death, violence and place.
Wafaa Bilal's art work raises questions relevant to all of us: What are the differences between aesthetic pleasure and aesthetic pain? Does technology desensitize us to violence? What strategies are available to empathize with other cultures with whom we are at war? To empathize with our own soldiers? Is there a difference between propaganda and art? What are our sources of information about conflict? Are they reliable and how do we measure this? What is the role of the artist in a time of war? What are our assumptions about war, conflict and the human condition? Do our assumptions limit the dialogue on these topics?
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Information on Public Programs and Links to more information on Wafaa and his artwork:
March 8 & 9:
Wafaa Bilal Performance via webcast: Tattoo Project
24 hours performance
... and Counting |
March 20th: Films
Iraq in Fragments 12:30 pm
"An evocative, heartbreaking documentary told from three disparate but equally compelling perspectives: the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds" Kevein Williamson for Rotten Tomatoes
On the Ground in Iraq: Panel Discussion with Wafaa Bilal, Artist and Christina Asquith, Journalist and author of Sisters in War 2009
Saturday, March 20th 3:00-5:00
HDAC - Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program Iraqi Community Potluck and Fundraiser
Saturday, March 20th 5:30
April 4th: Films
Brasil (Film) 12:30 pm
Paradise Now (Film) 3:00 pm
Links:
Wafaa Bilal's website here; Bilal's comments regarding "Virtual Jihadi" here; Details on the Shutdown of Bilal's work at RPI and Sanctuary for Independent Media (Troy, NY) here; "Art ≠ Terrorism" 22 minute documentary on the Sanctuary for Independent Media shutdown here; MSNBC Interview with Jesse Petrillo, creator of "Quest for Saddam" video game here; Brian Holmes' blog on Speech in Democracy and "Virtual Jihadi" here; Chicago Tribune here; NPR interview here; Bilal and Kari Lydersen's book Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun (2008 Citilights Books) here; Gamepolitics site "Most Politically Fascinating Person of the year" here
Visitor Information
Helen Day Art Center Gallery
Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Sunday. 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm.
Schedule applies while shows are on exhibit. Between exhibitions the galleries are closed for installation. For more information, please visit our exhibitions page.
Gallery entrance is FREE. Donations are accepted.
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