Wafaa Bilal
Encyclopedia
Wafaa Bilal is an Iraqi American
artist
, a former professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and currently an assistant professor at the Tisch School of the Arts
at New York University
. He is best known for his work Domestic Tension, a performance piece in which he lived in a gallery for a month and was shot by paintball
s remotely by internet users watching from a webcam
.
, Iraq. He dreamed of becoming an artist but was prohibited from studying art in a university in Iraq, because of the alleged disloyalty of a member of his family; he studied geography
instead. He continued to work on art and was arrested as a dissident
for his art critical of Saddam Hussein
. He refused to volunteer to participate in the invasion of Kuwait
, and began organizing opposition groups. He fled Iraq in 1991 and lived in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia
for two years, teaching art to children.
In 1992 he came to the United States
to study art at the University of New Mexico
in Albuquerque
, from which he graduated with a BFA in 1999. He later moved to Chicago
, where he earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003, and became an adjunct assistant professor the following year. In addition to his art he has given lectures about Saddam Hussein's regime and was interviewed by the History Channel. Wafaa's brother was killed by a U.S. missile strike at a checkpoint in 2004, something which deepened his condemnation of the Iraqi War. He has traveled the world and spread word of the situation of the Iraqi people, and the significance of peaceful conflict resolution.
. He let his audience decide which one – a dog named “Buddy,” or an Iraqi, himself – will be waterboarded
at an “undisclosed location” in upstate New York. He was the one who got water-boarded.
titled Night of Bush Capturing: Virtual Jihadi which is a modified version of the game Quest for Bush
, itself a "hacked" version of the popular commercial video game Quest for Saddam. While in the real game players target the ex-Iraqi leader, in Wafaa's modified version the artist casts himself as a suicide bomber who gets sent on a mission to assassinate President George W. Bush
. On his website, Bilal says,
Wafaa Bilal was invited by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in late February 2008 to present a lecture on this latest work. On March 6, the day after Wafaa's lecture, the RPI administration said they would not allow the exhibit to be supported on campus, and has since declined to reopen it. The decision came after the College Republicans called the Arts department "a safe haven for terrorists" on their blog. The statement has since been retracted. The Institute has been subsequently criticized by advocates of free speech and artistic freedom.
, eating and drinking what was donated to him. Viewers of the piece on the internet were able to view or take shots at Bilal with a remote controlled paintball gun at any time of the day or night. Yellow paintballs were chosen because it is the color of the Support our troops
ribbon
.
Bilal first got the idea for Domestic Tension when his 21-year-old brother was killed by shrapnel in Najaf, and soon after his father died. The idea solidified after reading a news article about a U.S. soldier in Colorado
who remotely fired missiles in Iraq. He originally considered calling the piece "Shoot an Iraqi," but decided that would be too incendiary. Still a book was released under the title "Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun". The book is a combination of an autobiography and his path towards approaching and completing the project.
The number of paintball shots greatly escalated after the work was reported on Digg.com
. By the twentieth day, he had been shot at over 40,000 times, and hackers had programmed the gun to fire automatically. By the end, more than 60,000 people from 130 countries shot at him. Bilal lived in the room from May 4 until June 4; afterwards the room remained on display, uncleaned, until June 16.
in Qatar
on December 30, 2010. Bilal had a titanium plate implanted in the back of his head, to which a camera was attached. For one year, which began December 15, 2010, an image was captured once per minute and streamed live to and the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. The website also showed his location via GPS. Bilal said that he wanted to capture the mundane while not knowingly taking the pictures. In an attempt to assuage privacy concerns, Bilal's university required him to cover the camera while on campus. On February 4, 2011, Bilal had the camera removed due to constant pain.
s and video installation
s that explore these emotions and conditions in hyperreality
.
For example, his work Raze 213 had viewers smell a piece of meat decaying in acid; it was shut down by the New Mexico health authorities. It was a reference to a torture
technique used by Saddam Hussein of dripping nitric acid
randomly on prisoners. In August 2007 in San Francisco he recreated rooms of destroyed houses from Iraq, covered in ash, some from human remains.
Iraqi American
Iraqi Americans are Americans of Iraqi descent, including those who are expatriates in exile or permanent immigrants. The number of Iraqi Americans is around 140,000 according to the Arab American Institute....
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, a former professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and currently an assistant professor at the Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. He is best known for his work Domestic Tension, a performance piece in which he lived in a gallery for a month and was shot by paintball
Paintball
Paintball is a sport in which players compete, in teams or individually, to eliminate opponents by tagging them with capsules containing water soluble dye and gelatin shell outside propelled from a device called a paintball marker . Paintballs have a non-toxic, biodegradable, water soluble...
s remotely by internet users watching from a webcam
Webcam
A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
.
Life
Bilal's family is from NajafNajaf
Najaf is a city in Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2008 is 560,000 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate...
, Iraq. He dreamed of becoming an artist but was prohibited from studying art in a university in Iraq, because of the alleged disloyalty of a member of his family; he studied geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
instead. He continued to work on art and was arrested as a dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
for his art critical of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. He refused to volunteer to participate in the invasion of Kuwait
Invasion of Kuwait
The Invasion of Kuwait, also known as the Iraq-Kuwait War, was a major conflict between the Republic of Iraq and the State of Kuwait, which resulted in the seven-month long Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, which subsequently led to direct military intervention by United States-led forces in the Gulf...
, and began organizing opposition groups. He fled Iraq in 1991 and lived in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
for two years, teaching art to children.
In 1992 he came to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to study art at the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
in Albuquerque
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, from which he graduated with a BFA in 1999. He later moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where he earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003, and became an adjunct assistant professor the following year. In addition to his art he has given lectures about Saddam Hussein's regime and was interviewed by the History Channel. Wafaa's brother was killed by a U.S. missile strike at a checkpoint in 2004, something which deepened his condemnation of the Iraqi War. He has traveled the world and spread word of the situation of the Iraqi people, and the significance of peaceful conflict resolution.
Dog or Iraqi
Wafaa was asked to participate in a net art piece called Dog or Iraqi while an artist in residence at Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteRensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
. He let his audience decide which one – a dog named “Buddy,” or an Iraqi, himself – will be waterboarded
Waterboarding
Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over the face of an immobilized captive, thus causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning...
at an “undisclosed location” in upstate New York. He was the one who got water-boarded.
Virtual Jihadi
Wafaa Bilal created a computer based art pieceArt game
An art game or arthouse game is a video game that is designed in such a way as to emphasize art or whose structure is intended to produce some kind of reaction in its audience. Art games typically go out of their way to have a unique, unconventional look, often standing out for aesthetic beauty or...
titled Night of Bush Capturing: Virtual Jihadi which is a modified version of the game Quest for Bush
Quest for Bush
Quest for Bush is a free first person shooter video game released by the Global Islamic Media Front in September 2006. Fitting its genre, the goal is to is to fight American soldiers through six levels and eventually to kill the boss, George W. Bush...
, itself a "hacked" version of the popular commercial video game Quest for Saddam. While in the real game players target the ex-Iraqi leader, in Wafaa's modified version the artist casts himself as a suicide bomber who gets sent on a mission to assassinate President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. On his website, Bilal says,
"This artwork is meant to bring attention to the vulnerability of Iraqi civilians, to the travesties of the current war, and to expose racist generalizations and profiling. Similar games such as “Quest for Saddam” or “America’s Army” promote stereotypical, singular perspectives. My artwork inverts these assumptions, and ultimately demonstrates the vulnerability to recruitment by violent groups like Al Qaeda because of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. In these difficult times, when we are at war with another nation, it is our duty as artists and citizens to improvise strategies of engagement for dialogue. This platform is a piece of fiction that uses the video game format to create alternative narratives and perspectives. Because we inhabit a comfort zone far from the trauma of conflict zone, we Americans have become desensitized to the violence of war. We are disconnected, disengaged while many others do the suffering. The game holds up a mirror that reveals our own propensities for violence, racism and propaganda. We can close our eyes, our ears and deny that it exists, but the issue won’t go away."
Wafaa Bilal was invited by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in late February 2008 to present a lecture on this latest work. On March 6, the day after Wafaa's lecture, the RPI administration said they would not allow the exhibit to be supported on campus, and has since declined to reopen it. The decision came after the College Republicans called the Arts department "a safe haven for terrorists" on their blog. The statement has since been retracted. The Institute has been subsequently criticized by advocates of free speech and artistic freedom.
Domestic Tension
In May 2007 he began a 30-day-long project called Domestic Tension which involved him living in a gallery in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, eating and drinking what was donated to him. Viewers of the piece on the internet were able to view or take shots at Bilal with a remote controlled paintball gun at any time of the day or night. Yellow paintballs were chosen because it is the color of the Support our troops
Support our troops
Support our troops is a slogan commonly used in the United States and Canada in reference to each country's military forces or troops. The slogan has been used during recent conflicts, including the Gulf War and the Iraq war....
ribbon
Yellow ribbon
The yellow ribbon is used for various symbolic purposes. It is often worn on one's person or tied around a tree in one's front yard.- Earliest Evidence unearthed at Pompeii :...
.
Bilal first got the idea for Domestic Tension when his 21-year-old brother was killed by shrapnel in Najaf, and soon after his father died. The idea solidified after reading a news article about a U.S. soldier in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
who remotely fired missiles in Iraq. He originally considered calling the piece "Shoot an Iraqi," but decided that would be too incendiary. Still a book was released under the title "Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun". The book is a combination of an autobiography and his path towards approaching and completing the project.
The number of paintball shots greatly escalated after the work was reported on Digg.com
Digg
Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
. By the twentieth day, he had been shot at over 40,000 times, and hackers had programmed the gun to fire automatically. By the end, more than 60,000 people from 130 countries shot at him. Bilal lived in the room from May 4 until June 4; afterwards the room remained on display, uncleaned, until June 16.
The 3rd I
Bilal's The 3rd I project was exhibited in the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern ArtArab Museum of Modern Art
The first institution of its kind in the region, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar offers an Arab perspective on modern and contemporary art and supports creativity, promotes dialogue and inspires new ideas....
in Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
on December 30, 2010. Bilal had a titanium plate implanted in the back of his head, to which a camera was attached. For one year, which began December 15, 2010, an image was captured once per minute and streamed live to and the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. The website also showed his location via GPS. Bilal said that he wanted to capture the mundane while not knowingly taking the pictures. In an attempt to assuage privacy concerns, Bilal's university required him to cover the camera while on campus. On February 4, 2011, Bilal had the camera removed due to constant pain.
Other works
He considers himself a political artist, dealing with war and oppression, and the Iraqi experience. He considers his main influence his experience growing up under the repression and violence of Baathist Iraq. He has also been inspired by his experiences of injustice and suffering in the United States. He has produced photographPhotograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s and video installation
Video installation
Video installation is a contemporary art form that combines video technology with installation art, making use of all aspects of the surrounding environment to affect the audience. Tracing its origins to the birth of video art in the 1970s, it has increased in popularity as digital video production...
s that explore these emotions and conditions in hyperreality
Hyperreality
Hyperreality is used in semiotics and postmodern philosophy to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technologically advanced postmodern societies...
.
For example, his work Raze 213 had viewers smell a piece of meat decaying in acid; it was shut down by the New Mexico health authorities. It was a reference to a torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
technique used by Saddam Hussein of dripping nitric acid
Nitric acid
Nitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosive and toxic strong acid.Colorless when pure, older samples tend to acquire a yellow cast due to the accumulation of oxides of nitrogen. If the solution contains more than 86% nitric acid, it is referred to as fuming...
randomly on prisoners. In August 2007 in San Francisco he recreated rooms of destroyed houses from Iraq, covered in ash, some from human remains.
Selected works
- Sorrow of Baghdad (1999)
- Absinth Drinker
- Raze 213 (1999)
- Mona Lisa (2002)
- A Bar at the Folies Begère (2003)
- Baiti "My Home" (2003)
- One Chair (2005)
- Midwest Olympia (2005)
- Human Condition (2005)
- Domestic Tension (2007)
- Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun (2008) ISBN 978-0872864917.
External links
- Official website
- Shoot an Iraqi book description, reviews, and purchasing information
- Shoot an Iraqi article in The National
- and the media" article in F Newsmagazine
- Interview with Bilal from Network Performance Daily
- Interview with Bilal from F Newsmagazine
- Wafaa Bilal's page at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, including daily dispatches from Domestic Tension - Iraqi Artist Makes a Point with Virtual Paintballs by NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
All Things ConsideredAll Things ConsideredAll Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets... - 105,000 Tattoos: Iraqi Artist Turns His Own Body into a Canvas to Commemorate Dead Iraqis & Americans
- CNN coverage of "3rd I"