© Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary

Scratching on Things I Could Disavow. A History of Art in the Arab World
Exhibition and Performance

Thursday May 26 – June 15, 2011

Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary
Himmelpfortgasse 13, 1010 Vienna
T +43 1 513 98 56 12

This latest project by Walid Raad considers the ramifications of the growing cultural tourism as evidenced by the increasing number of art museums in cities such as Abu-Dhabi, Beirut, Cairo, Doha, and Istanbul. The exhibition combines visual pieces and performance. Throughout the course of the exhibition there will be walk-throughs limited to 30 people with Walid Raad (in German with Markus Reymann). The exhibition and research for this new project grew out of Raad’s, The Atlas Group (1989 – 2004), which was established to research and document the contemporary history of Lebanon.

Raad’s photographic prints of changing building facades in Beirut was featured in Aperture magazine 198, Spring 2010 and We Decided to Let Them Say ‘We Are Convinced’ Twice was published in PHOTOart: Photography in the 21st Century (Aperture).

Congratulation to Walid Raad, the 2011 Hasselblad Award winner.

Raad was presented the 2011 Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography in New York on March 8, and it honors his innovative photography and ongoing Atlas Group project. Raad’s photographs document and explore Lebanon’s contemporary history by approaching social and political conflicts through art. The award includes a diploma, gold metal, and SEK $1,000,00 (approximately $150,000 USD).

An exhibition of Raad’s work will open on November 12, 2011 at the Hasselblad Center at the Gothenburg Museum of Art, Sweden, where the Foundation has its head office.

Walid Raad was featured in Aperture magazine #198, Spring 2010 and in the compendium PHOTOart: Photography in the 21st Century (Aperture).

Walid Raad: Miraculous Beginnings
Bildmuseet, Umeå University

Exhibition Dates: February 19th – April 25th , 2011
Visiting address: Gammlia, Umeå
Postal address: Umeå University, SE- 901 87, SWEDEN
Phone: +46-(0)90-786 52 27
Fax: +46-(0)90-786 77 33

Walid Raad was born in Lebanon and came to the United States as a teenager during 1983 but his work has always been directly linked to his formative years in Beirut, more specifically the Lebanese civil war (1975–90). Raad’s photographs, videos, and collages illuminate the impossibility of capturing history.

The exhibition includes work that grew out of Raad’s project, The Atlas Group (1989 – 2004), which “was established to research and document the contemporary history of Lebanon.” The Atlas Group series Sweet Talk: Commissions (1992-2004/2004), photographic prints of changing building facades in Beirut, was featured in Aperture magazine 198, Spring 2010 and We Decided to Let Them Say ‘We Are Convinced’ Twice was published in PHOTOart: Photography in the 21st Century (Aperture).

Walid Raad: Miraculous Beginnings is curated by Achim Borchardt-Hume, Chief Curator, Whitechapel Gallery. The exhibition is a collaboration between Whitechapel Gallery and Bildmuseet, Umeå University.

Photo by Walid Raad

Walid Raad, one of the most important, contemporary photographers from the Middle East, is featured in his first major UK exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery. Walid Raad: Miraculous Beginnings is a 20-year retrospective, during which Raad’s focused primarily on the 1975-1990 civil wars in Lebanon. Of great interest to Raad is the way conflict affects the body and mind, and how it can be successfully captured through a camera. Initially wishing to be a war correspondent, Raad realized he could document the complex story of his country and relay it to an audience just as effectively (if not more so) with art. Raad believes that a single photograph can clearly illustrate “a city that is divided, [with] all sorts of facts: some military; others cultural; and yet others aesthetic.”

A discussion of Raad’s aesthetic in times of war, with his draw on both personal history and conceptual practice, was featured in Aperture Issue 198.

Walid Raad: Miraculous Beginnings
On view: Thursday October 14, 2010 – Sunday January 2, 2011

Whitechapel Gallery
77-82 Whitechapel High Street
London E1 7QX
+44 (0)20 7522 7888

Photo by Paul Fusco/Magnum Photos

Antiphotojournalism, a new exhibition at La Virreina Centre de l’Imatge in Barcelona, identifies recent transformations and expansions of the field of photojournalism. Curated by Charles Guerra and Aperture magazine contributing editor Thomas Keenan, the exhibition brings together works that have challenged conventions of the practice and have created unexpected relationships between the image and social struggle.

Featured in the exhibition are works by Magnum photographer Gilles Peress, who was featured in Aperture magazine issue 191, Paul Fusco, whose Paul Fusco: RFK was published by Aperture in 2008, Susan Meiselas, featured in Aperture magazine issue 193, Laura Kurgan, in Aperture magazine issue 178, Walid Raad, in Aperture magazine issue 198, Oliver Chanarin and Adam Broomberg, featured in Aperture magazine issue 185, and Ariella Azoulay, a contributor to the web exclusive, Photography and Human Rights.

Antiphotojournalism
July 5th – October 10th, 2010

La Virreina Centre de l’Imatge
La Rambla, 99
Barcelona, Spain

Click here for more information about Antiphotojournalism and surrounding events

Click here to view Aperture magazine back issues

The spring issue of Aperture magazine #198, is now on newsstands.

Here are some of the features:

• Magnum colleagues Elliott Erwitt and Marc Riboud discuss each other’s work and where their philosophies on photography differ.

• Anders Petersen speaks with JH Engstrom about expanding beyond the spatial limitations of his earlier work and his method of photographing people.

• John Gossage transitions into color photography for his upcoming volume The Thirty-Two Inch Ruler/Map of Babylon, featuring photographs taken in Washington D.C.

• Paolo Pellegrin and Scott Anderson team up using pictures and words to tell stories about Iraqi refugees.

• Zoe Crosher’s collection of Michelle duBois’ self-portraits examines styles of documentation.

• Walid Raad‘s visual catalogue of Lebanon explores modes of interpreting and fabricating history.

• In New Trees, Robert Voit photographs cell phone towers to comment on how nature submits to the technological desires of people.

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