Artist Talk by Walid Raad: Les Louvres

Asia Art Archive presents “Les Louvres”, a talk by Walid Raad as a preview to Section 39_Index XXXVII: Traboulsi, his project for AAA’s special anniversary programme series 15 Invitations.

The artist talk introduces his long-term collaborative project with the Louvre Museum in Paris and focuses on the history of Islamic, modern, and contemporary Arab Art, as well as the growing arts infrastructures emerging in Arab cities such as Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Beirut.

A conversation with AAA Head of Research and Programmes Hammad Nasar, and a Q&A session to follow.

Section 39_Index XXXVII: Traboulsi stems from Raad’s interest and research into AAA’s Ha Bik Chuen Archive. During his 2014 residency at AAA, Raad was introduced to the work of Ha Bik Chuen. Raad immediately realised Ha’s affinity to one of his fictional collaborators, Suha Traboulsi.

Walid Raad is an artist and Professor of Art at the Cooper Union, New York. Raad’s works include The Atlas Group, a fifteen-year project between 1989 and 2004 about the contemporary history of Lebanon, and ongoing projects Scratching on Things I Could Disavow and Sweet Talk: Commissions (Beirut). His books include The Truth Will Be Known When The Last Witness Is Dead; My Neck is Thinner than a Hair; Let’s Be Honest, the Weather Helped; and Scratching on Things I Could Disavow.

Raad’s works have been shown at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Louvre, Paris; Documenta 11 and 13, Kassel; Kunsthalle Zurich; Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; the Venice Biennale; the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Homeworks, Beirut; and other museums and venues throughout Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.
Raad is the recipient of the ICP Infiniti Award (2016); Hasselblad Award (2011); Guggenheim Fellowship (2009); Alpert Award in Visual Arts (2007); Deutsche Börse Photography Prize (2007); and Camera Austria Award (2005).