Artist Talk: Walid Raad

Details:

Join artist Walid Raad as he reflects on his work and practice, and draws some tangential connections to Fall exhibition Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s, with introductory remarks from Hannah Feldman, Northwestern Associate Professor of Art History. In his installations, performances, and videos, Raad’s works engage how violence affects bodies, minds, cities, and art. 

Programs are open to all, on a first-come first-served basis. RSVPs not required, but appreciated. 

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Presented in partnership with the Department of Art, Theory and Practice.

This program is co-sponsored by the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities. The Block Museum of Art also acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. 

About the Program Participants:

Walid Raad (b. 1967, Chbaniyeh, Lebanon) works across installation, performance, video, and photography to explore how historical events of physical and psychological violence affect bodies, minds, culture, and narrative. He is well-known for The Atlas Group, a 14-year project about the contemporary history of Lebanon. Raad’s work has been shown in numerous international exhibitions including Documenta 11 and 13, the 14th Istanbul Biennial, the first Vienna Biennale, the Whitney Biennial (2000 and 2002), and the 50th Venice Biennale. He has had one-person exhibitions at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; and Carré d’Art, Nîmes. His 2015 survey exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston and Museo Jumex in Mexico City. His work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Kunsthaus Zürich; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, among others.

Hannah Feldman is Associate Professor of Art History and core faculty in Middle Eastern and North African Studies as well as Comparative Literary Studies, as well as affiliated faculty in Art Theory and Practice. Her first book, “From a Nation Torn,” argued for the impact the War for Independence of Algeria had on the formulation of mid-century models of aesthetics and vision. She is currently working on two books, one about the Lebanese artist Walid Raad and the historiography of contemporary art, and one about the institutionalization of art as a means of politics in the early years of the Algerian Republic, 1962-64. She is also preparing for a major retrospective of Huguette Caland, an artist included in this exhibition, for the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid.

Contact The Block Museum of Art for more information: (847) 491-4000 or email us at block-museum@northwestern.edu