News and Events
14 February 2009 – 2 May 2009
Wafaa Bilal new Ashes Series will open in Israeli as part of Forbidden Junctions show.
The Ashes Series, will depict miniature model reconstructions of media photographs documenting destroyed domestic interiors resulting from the war in Iraq. Twenty-one grams of human ashes mixed with other organic ashes will be spread over the model landscapes, rendering every object equal in importance. The origins of my photographs may appear to be ambiguous at first, but upon closer observation, the media referents will become clear to anyone familiar with such images. The models will function as transitional spaces, echoing the original media images while also becoming ephemeral.
Forbidden Junctions
A group exhibition at the Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon
Opening: Saturday, 14 February 2009, 8 p.m.
The exhibition "Forbidden Junctions" introduces a multi-directional thought process pointing at fluid, stratified cultural realities which challenge deep-seated identity labels anchored in collective cultural memory. The show features artists from several "Middle Easteran" countries (Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran) whose works address issues pertinent to the political, cultural, and dynamic reality in which they live. All the featured works, some created especially for the exhibition, present intercultural junctions where various groups adopt certain symbols, while relinquishing others. The term "forbidden junctions" (or prohibited hybrids,… for more detail please visit http://www.digitalartlab.org.il/Index.asp
February 26
Discussion with Shawn Lawson at The Art Center Gallery in Saratoga Springs, NY. 6:30p
February 7 - March 28
Shawn Lawson will exhibit old and new works at The Art Center Gallery in Saratoga Springs, NY. Opening: Feb 7th from 5p-8p.
October 15
Shawn Lawson speaks about interactive media at the University of Vermont
September 1-October 13
Shawn Lawson screens Effervescence at Madeira's International Art Bienal.
July-August
Wafaa Bilal is interviewed about his upcoming book. To see it, click here.
August 10-15
Shawn Lawson exhibits two prints from the Migration series in Slow Art at Siggraph in Los Angeles, CA.
July 25 - August 29
Shawn Lawson exhibits Surface Traversal at FLIK Interactive at Art Whino in National Harbor, MD.
July 25, 26, 27 @ 8pm. Reception @ 6pm
Shawn Lawson screens Effervescence at the FLIK festival at Art Whino in National Harbor, MD.
July 9 @ noon
Shawn Lawson gives an artist lecture in the Schick Art Gallery at Skidmore College.
April 25 - May 20
Shawn Lawson presents the
(De)Construction series as a solo exhibition
Stereo-Lucidity at Dusk Gallery in Troy, NY.
Details:
Dusk
205 River Street
Troy, NY 12180
518 312 0022
Hours:
Wed – Sun 10am to 5pm
Opening Reception:
Friday, April 25
5pm – 9pm
Mar 6
Wafaa Bilal's exhibit
The Night of Bush Capturing: A Virtual Jihadi at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has been "suspended." For more information go to the media center
- here -
Mar 6-30
Crudeoils presents
One Chair at
Experiencing the War in Iraq. More information related to the show can be found
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Location:
Arts Exchange (Pawtucket Armory)
172 Exchange St
Pawtucket, RI
Hours:
Thurs-Sun: 5p-8p
Feb 22 - Mar 11
Wafaa Bilal speaks at CAA in Dallas, TX. Wafaa Bilal speaks at Pratt in New York City. Wafaa Bilal is an artist in residence at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as the second of four artists. More information about the events and projects can be found
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Feb 7-9
Shawn Lawson presents
Effervescence a new 3D animation at
Path of Light a curated exhibition at the
2008 conference on Iridescense.
Location:
Arizona State University
Basaha Library
2nd FL of Old Main
412 628 0954
Hours:
Thurs, Feb. 7th 5p-7p
Fri, Feb. 8th 12p-1:3p
Sat, Feb. 9th 5:3p-9:3p
And by appointment
November 3rd, 2007
Wafaa Bilal presents
Aldar Al-Iraqi, The Iraqi House. The installation will investigate the impact of the destruction of private, domestic spaces in war. These intimate spaces are ripped open and become public through external violence. I want to re-domesticate them and to bring the viewer closer to them, thereby bringing them closer to the destroyed culture. Wafaa will turn the private into an installation for the public to see at Montalvo Arts Center. Through this installation I hope the reality of destruction will enter human consciousness and function as a reminder of the engine of oppression in human and cultural conflict.
Wafaa, with a diverse community of local volunteers, will construct the house using dirt and other available natural resources form Montalvo Arts Center.
Opening Reception and a talk: November 3rd 2007
Montalvo Arts Center
15400 Montalvo Rd.
Saratoga, CA 95070
408 777 2120
www.montalvoarts.org
For more information or to be part of this project please contact:
Rijin Sahakian
Programs Coordinator
Montalvo Arts Center
15400 Montalvo Rd.
Saratoga, CA 95070
408 777 2120
www.montalvoarts.org
Oct 8 - Nov 28, 2007
The University of the Arts Multimedia Department will be hosting
Algorist Musings: Selected Works by Shawn Lawson. Comprised of a collection of works spanning 2003 to present.
Algorist Musings incorporates real-time processing and examines the phenomena of observing, computing, and experiencing. “My artistic expressions evolve from a process of computing and searching to understand what I observe from natural phenomena and cultural movements,” explains Lawson. “Often, my artwork takes the form of touch or movement based interactivity. Dynamic encounters — generated from real-time animation and video compositing — are unique for each participant.”
details:
Multimedia Gallery
The University of the Arts
Terra Building 12th Floor
211 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Hours:
Monday – Friday 10am to 5pm
(closed November 22-25)
Discussion with the Artist:
Monday, October 8
4pm - Terra Building Rm. 1106
Opening Reception:
Monday, October 8
6pm – 8pm
May 4 - June 15, 2007
Please click to donate the Domestic Tension Project.
To participate in Domestic Tension <click here>
View Video Log <here>
photo by: C. TaylorIraqi born Wafaa Bilal has become known for provocative interactive video installations. Many of BilalĂs projects over the past few years have addressed the dichotomy of the virtual vs. the real. He attempts to keep in mind the relationship of the viewer to the artwork, with one of his main objectives transforming the normally passive experience of viewing art into an active participation. In
Domestic Tension, viewers can log onto the internet to contact, or shoot, Bilal with paintball guns. BilalĂs objective is to raise awareness of virtual war and privacy, or lack thereof, in the digital age. During the course of the exhibition, Bilal will confine himself to the gallery space. During the installation, people will have 24-hour virtual access to the space via the Internet. They will have the ability to watch Bilal and interact with him through a live web-cam and chat room. Should they choose to do so, viewers will also have the option to shoot Bilal with a paintball gun, transforming the virtual experience into a very physical one. BilalĂs self imposed confinement is designed to raise awareness about the life of the Iraqi people and the home confinement they face due to the both the violent and the virtual war they face on a daily basis. This sensational approach to the war is meant to engage people who may not be willing to engage in political dialogue through conventional means.
Domestic Tension will depict the suffering of war not through human displays of dramatic emotion, but through engaging people in the sort of playful interactive-video game with which they are familiar.
Development Team:
Ben Chang (Software)
Daniel Miller
Dimitris Michalaros (Hardware)
Jason Potkanski (SysAdmin)
Shawn Lawson
Opening:
May 4th, 5p-9p
FLATFILEgalleries
217 N Carpenter ST
Chicago, IL 606047
312 491 1190
February 2007 - December 2008
Shawn Lawson presents
Surface Traversal in the
Web Biennial 2007 at the
Istanbul Contemporary Art Museum, Istanbul, Turkey.
2006 - 2008
Wafaa Bilal presented The Human Condition series at museum of
contemporary photography’s Midwest Photographers Project. The work will be at
the museum for next two years.
Here is what Kendra Greene, Manager of Collections, has to say abut the work.
“Wafaa Bilal’s unabashedly political art seeks to provoke. His images of
suffering, repression, distortion, and excess draw on symbolism and surprise to
make their point, but even as they press the allegorical towards the surreal,
their intent to raise issues and spark dialogue remains consistently clear. The
pictures range formally from the very painterly to the exactingly photographic
and occasionally include the artist as subject.”
For more info please visit the MoCP web site.
http://mocp.org/collections/mpp/bilal_waafa.php
