Index XXII-XXVI: Artists

Overview

Over the past decade Walid Raad has been fascinated by the emergence of new art museums, galleries, schools and cultural foundations in Arab cities, by way of which the makers, sponsors, consumers, forms and histories of Arab art are becoming more and more visible. While this visibility is welcome, it is often overdue and infelicitous.

Here, Raad presents a work from his ongoing project titled Scratching on Things I Could Disavow: A History of Art in the Arab World, and puts forward forms and stories that engage the history of art in Lebanon. The protracted wars in Lebanon shape an unsettling yet rich ground for creative work. They shed light on how art and culture in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Arab world are affected materially and immaterially by various forms of violence.

Courtesy of Galerie Sfeir-Semler, Beirut/Hamburg

April 2011

This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 10

Produced by Sharjah Art Foundation