Walid Raad
Encyclopedia
Walid Raad (born 1967 in Chbanieh, Lebanon
) is a contemporary media artist. The Atlas Group is a fictional collective, the work of which is produced by Walid Raad.
His works to date include video, photography and literary essays. All, in one way or another, deal with the contemporary history of Lebanon with particular emphasis on the wars in Lebanon between 1975 to 1991. The work is also often concerned with the representation of traumatic events of collective historical dimensions; and the ways film, video, and photography function as documents of physical and psychological violence. He is also a member of the Arab Image Foundation.
Raad received his BFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology
in 1989. He went on to complete his MA and Ph.D. in Cultural and Visual Studies at the University of Rochester
in 1993 and 1996, respectively.
His works have been exhibited at Documenta
11 (Kassel), The Venice Biennale
(Venice), The Whitney Biennial
(New York), The Ayloul Festival (Beirut, Lebanon) and numerous other festivals in Europe, the Middle East, and North America.
He lives and works in New York
, where he is currently an associate professor at the Cooper Union
School of Art.
He also founded The Atlas Group in 1999, an imaginary foundation whose objective is to research and document Lebanon‘s contemporary history. The Altas Group is primarily presented through lectures that include films, photography exhibitions, videos, and a variety of documents from the group‘s archives who contains authored, found, and newly produced files.
More recently, certain sections of the archive have been the object of a number of installations in museum spaces.
Under the name of Atlas Group, Raad made a series of books published by Walther König: a sort of imaginary collection of Dr. Fakhouri's found notebooks reports on Lebanon's 14 year war.
As a member of the Arab Image Foundation, Walid Raad has co-curated with Akram Zaatari the exhibition titled Mapping Sitting: On portraiture and Photography, an investigation in Arab photography and its relationship to questions of identity.
In June 2009, "The Atlas Group (1989-2004)" exhibition opened at the Reina Sofia in Madrid. Undertaken by Raad, the project aimed to research and document the contemporary history of Lebanon, specifically the years between 1975 and 1991. The exhibition - consisting of installations, videos, and photographs - attempts to draw awareness to the various ways in which history is told, organized, and sometimes manipulated.
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
) is a contemporary media artist. The Atlas Group is a fictional collective, the work of which is produced by Walid Raad.
His works to date include video, photography and literary essays. All, in one way or another, deal with the contemporary history of Lebanon with particular emphasis on the wars in Lebanon between 1975 to 1991. The work is also often concerned with the representation of traumatic events of collective historical dimensions; and the ways film, video, and photography function as documents of physical and psychological violence. He is also a member of the Arab Image Foundation.
Raad received his BFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
in 1989. He went on to complete his MA and Ph.D. in Cultural and Visual Studies at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
in 1993 and 1996, respectively.
His works have been exhibited at Documenta
Documenta
documenta is an exhibition of modern and contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau which took place in Kassel at that time...
11 (Kassel), The Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
(Venice), The Whitney Biennial
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
(New York), The Ayloul Festival (Beirut, Lebanon) and numerous other festivals in Europe, the Middle East, and North America.
He lives and works in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, where he is currently an associate professor at the Cooper Union
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
School of Art.
Work
Raad's video works include Talaeen a Junuub (Up to the South) (Salloum/Raad, 60 min., 1993), I Think It Would Be Better If I Could Weep (6 min.18sec., 2000) a collection of video shorts titled The Dead Weight of a Quarrel Hangs (Raad, 18 min., 1996-1999), and Hostage: The Bachar Tapes (Raad/Bachar), 18 min., 2000). Mixed-media projects include The Atlas Group: Documents from The Atlas Group Archive (1999 to the present), The Loudest Muttering Is Over: Documents from The Atlas Group Archive (2001 to the present), and My Neck Is Thinner Than A Hair (2004).He also founded The Atlas Group in 1999, an imaginary foundation whose objective is to research and document Lebanon‘s contemporary history. The Altas Group is primarily presented through lectures that include films, photography exhibitions, videos, and a variety of documents from the group‘s archives who contains authored, found, and newly produced files.
More recently, certain sections of the archive have been the object of a number of installations in museum spaces.
Under the name of Atlas Group, Raad made a series of books published by Walther König: a sort of imaginary collection of Dr. Fakhouri's found notebooks reports on Lebanon's 14 year war.
As a member of the Arab Image Foundation, Walid Raad has co-curated with Akram Zaatari the exhibition titled Mapping Sitting: On portraiture and Photography, an investigation in Arab photography and its relationship to questions of identity.
In June 2009, "The Atlas Group (1989-2004)" exhibition opened at the Reina Sofia in Madrid. Undertaken by Raad, the project aimed to research and document the contemporary history of Lebanon, specifically the years between 1975 and 1991. The exhibition - consisting of installations, videos, and photographs - attempts to draw awareness to the various ways in which history is told, organized, and sometimes manipulated.
Awards
- Hasselblad-Prize. 2011
- Alpert Award for Visual Arts from the Herb Alpert Foundation. 2007 (Winner)
- Deutsche Börse Photography Prize for 2007 (First Prize)
- Rencontres d’Arles (2006), “Lauréat d’Aide au projet” (Help for a new project), Arles
- Camera Austria AwardCamera Austria AwardThe Camera Austria Award of the City of Graz for Contemporary Photography is an award given every two years since 1989 by the city of Graz....
(2005) - Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival. 2002 (First Prize)
- Vidarte 2002 Festival, Mexico City, Mexico. 2002 (First Prize)
- Oneiras Film and Video Festival, Lisboa, Portugal. 2002 (First Prize)
- Media Arts Awards, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany. 2002 (Special Prize)
- Black Maria Festival, 2002. (Juror Citation Award)
- Video Ex, Zurich, Switzerland, 2001. (First Prize)
- Oberhausen Film and VideoFest, Oberhausen, Germany, 2001 (Rhineland Award)
- San Francisco International Film Festival, SF, CA, USA, 2000 (Certificate of Merit)
- 5th Biennial of Arab Cinemas, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France, 2000 (Special Jury Prize)
- VideoEx, Zurich, Switzerland, 2000. (First Prize)
- 8th Biennial of the Moving Image, Switzerland, 1999. (Grand Prize)
- Beirut Film Festival, Beirut, Lebanon, 1999. (Best Short Film and Best Scenario for a Short Film)
- Black Maria Film and Video Festival, New Jersey, 1999. (Director’s Citation)
- Missouri Video Festival, St. Louis, MO, 1998. (Award of Accomplishment Experimental)
- New England Film and Video Festival, Boston, MA, 1997. (Best Conceptual Innovation Award)
External links
- Artist's Official Website
- The Atlas Group Archives
- Walid Raad in the Video Data Bank
- Artfacts.Net: Walid Ra'ad
- village voice > art > Walid Raad/the Atlas Group: Interrogation Nation; Art as a Detective Report by Jerry Saltz
- http://vimeo.com/9087032Lecture hosted by Pavilion Magazine on the concept of the contemporary, which centres on the work of Walid Raad under the auspices of the fictional collective The Atlas Group: 'The Fiction of Contemporary: Speculative Collectivity and the Global Transnational', given by Professor Peter Osborne, Director of the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, based at Kingston University]
- http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2010/05/peter-osborne-the-truth-will-be-known-when-the-last-witness-is-dead-history-not-memory/Seminar at Birkbeck on the relation of contemporary art to 'cultural memory' that highlights - and takes its title from - the work of the fictional collective The Atlas Group: '"The Truth Will be Known When the Last Witness is Dead": History Not Memory’, by Professor Peter Osborne, Director of the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, based at Kingston University]