Shoot an Iraqi by Wafaa Bilal

Shoot an Iraqi by Wafaa Bilal

Award-winning Iraqi artist's life story and reflections on his highly provocative interactive art piece.

"Once I picked up this book, I could not put it downThere is something so urgent and compelling about Bilal's story, as though he is speaking to our time. His story is not just for those interested in the arts; it is a human story of the horror, frustration, and tragedies of war."—Mary Flanagan, artist and author of re:skin

"This is an unsettling and gripping book. It poignantly recounts a dark and imaginative experiment inspired by an excruciating and ghastly reality. Its unsettling effects couldn't be more welcome: we desperately need to be shocked out of our collective zombification, and this book does that by leading us through a wild labyrinth at once aesthetic, political, and existential. Potent stuff."—Danny Postel, author of Reading "Legitimation Crisis" in Tehran

"Who in their right mind would allow the internet to shoot at them? Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life, and the Resistance Under the Gun tells the story of Wafaa Bilal. When his brother was killed by an unmanned Military device during the Iraq war, Bilal took it locked himself in a room, a camera showing him to the world with a remote controlled paintball gun connected to the internet, in the name of art and political statement. Bilal explains himself quite well, making Shoot an Iraqi fascinating reading."—Midwest Book Review

"Weaving together accounts of Iraq and America, art and violence, performance and reality, past and present, this gripping account all but shakes the reader by the lapels."—Publishers Weekly

Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal, a professor at the Art Institute of Chicago, has exhibited his art world wide, and lectured extensively to inform audiences of the situation of the Iraqi people. Bilal's latest interactive installation "Domestic Tension" garnered praise in national and international press, including Newsweek and a Chicago Tribune "Artist of the Year" award. Kari Lydersen is a staff writer at The Washington Post Midwest bureau and author of "Out of the Sea and Into the Fire: Latin American-US Immigration in the Global Age." Wafaa Bilal is causing a stir in in the art world again, with his latest project "The 3rd I," which includes Bilal surgically implanting a camera in the back his head. Bilal describes this project as "a comment on the inaccessibility of time, and the inability to capture memory and experience." Mr. Bilal's work will be among one of the inaugural exhibits of Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art in New York City scheduled to open December 2010.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780872864917
ISBN 10	087286491X
Title	Shoot an Iraqi
Author	Wafaa Bilal
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	City Lights Books
Year published	2008-10-16
Number of pages	240
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.