VISITING ARTIST: Wafaa Bilal—Making the Invisible Visible 

Thursday, April 7, 6:30–8 pm

FREE and open to the public

In this public lecture, Wafaa Bilal discusses specific bodies of his work including Domestic Tension (aka Shoot an Iraqi), Virtual Jihadi, and 3rdi, elaborating on the evolution of his artwork, reflecting on his personal narrative and experiences living in both the conflict zone of Iraq and the comfort zone of the United States. His dynamic, participatory work blends technology and performance to engage viewers in dialogue. The controversial aspects of his work spark deeper conversation, posing questions about political and personal realities. Bilal’s work places him in the role of artist as platform initiator, helping to shift and change distribution channels in media.

Presented by the Graduate Art History Association (GAHA) and the Stamp Gallery with generous support from the Department of Art History and Archaeology and the Department of Art

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal is renowned for provoking dialogue about international politics and internal dynamics through high profile, technologically-driven art projects that employ the use of robotics, the internet, and photographic mobile mapping. For his 2007 installation, Domestic Tension, Bilal spent a month in a Chicago gallery with a paintball gun that people could shoot at him over the internet. Bilal’s work is constantly informed by the experience of fleeing his homeland and existing simultaneously in two worlds – his home in the “comfort zone” of the U.S. and his consciousness of the “conflict zone” in Iraq. Using his own body as a medium, Bilal continues to challenge our comfort zone with projects like 3rdi and and Counting.... In 2008 City Lights published Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun about Bilal’s life and the Domestic Tension project. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; MATHAF: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar; among others. He holds a BFA from the University of New Mexico and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is currently an Associate Arts Professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.