8 - 25 May
PTA Amsterdam

A central theme in the work of Walid Ra'ad (1967) is the war that tore apart Lebanon between 1975 and 1990. As a child he witnesses the extremely violent nature of this conflict. In 1983 Walid Ra'ad leaves Lebanon for New York where he applies himself to Visual & Cultural Studies. Confronted with an abundance of visual material and photographs of Beirut, he becomes fascinated by how the western world views the conflict in Lebanon.

It is a view he does not recognize. He embarks on a personal project that focuses on research; research into Lebanon's history and the value of documents about that history.

Conversations on this topic form an important part of his work and this is why he teaches, gives lectures and does performances.

In the work of Walid Ra'ad fiction and reality become so mixed as to be almost indistinguishable. Not just reality is important to him, but also how this reality might have been, and this is why he manipulates his material. The exhibition consists of two video projections: Miraculous Beginnings and No, Illness Is Neither Here Nor There, two 'notebooks': Notebook Volume 72_Missing Lebanese Wars and Notebook Volume 38_Already Been in a Lake of Fire and 16 black & white self portraits of Fakhouri: Never That I Remember.

Mapping Sitting
Together with visual artist Akram Zaatari, Walid Ra'ad produced the exhibition Mapping Sitting, that consists of a large collection of portrait photographs from the Arab world, dating from the early 20th century until circa 1950. Continue...

The Atlas Group Project and Mapping Sitting can be visited in the Passenger Terminal Amsterdam.

On 10 May, at 20.00 hrs, Walid Ra'ad will give a lecture / performance in the PTA’s auditorium. Before, at 18.00 hrs, the videotapes Hostage: The Bachar tapes and The Dead Weight of a Quarrel Hangs will be screened.

Document Title:
Missing Lebanese Wars
Type / Subfile:
AG_A_Fakhouri
Reference Number:
AGA_A_FF_v72: 39
Media:
Digital c-print
Date:
1998
Original Document Dimensions:
6 x 8.3 inches
Exhibition Plate Dimensions:
17 x 21 inches
Photo credits:
The Atlas Group, 2002
©The Atlas Group / Raad

The exhibition Mapping Sitting is made possible in part by the European Cultural Foundation.