in interpretations of post civil war era artworks by Akram Zaatari and Walid Raad.

487 Pages·2014·7.17 MB·English

Unresolved: notions of ‘truth’ in interpretations of post
civil war era artworks by Akram Zaatari and Walid Raad.
Unresolved: notions of ‘truth’ in interpretations of post
civil war era artworks by Akram Zaatari and Walid Raad.

Emmi Nevalainen

A thesis in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor
of Philosophy

School of Art History and Art Education
College of Fine Arts
ORIGINALITY
 STATEMENT

‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains
no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of
material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any
other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any
contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is
explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the
product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and
conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’

Signed ................................................................. Date .................................................................
Abstract
My intention in this thesis is to present a unique parallel reading of two Lebanese born
contemporary artists’ work. The artists Akram Zaatari and Walid Raad have created works that
explore truths surrounding the events of the recent Lebanese war. Long after physical combat
ended, the different parties involved continued to cling to mutually exclusive narratives, and so both
artists see truth as a continuing casualty of the events of the civil war. While one artist, Zaatari,
seems to believe that historical truth can be collected, recovered and represented, the other, Raad,
pursues work that seems to suggest the idea of a loss of ability to recover truth.
I seek to understand this damaged condition of ‘truth’ that the two artists’ work circulates
around, and analyse it in terms of interrelated debates about time, history and memory, and the
archive and the document. Where a shared contract about truth appears to be missing, as is
evidently the case with Lebanon, the onus shifts from empirical facts to subjective stories, such as
those told by Zaatari and Raad, about the possibilities and viabilities of multiple truths.
I discuss how Zaatari’s and Raad’s art works embody different attitudes towards getting at
the truths and untruths of this damaged condition, and the different methods they have used to
translate this condition into visual art. I show that the damaged condition of ‘truth’ informs their
artworks from this period. It is my conclusion that the two men’s art practices demonstrate the
indeterminacy with which truths are viewed in post war Lebanon.
The approach taken is one that seeks to periodise the selected artworks. Hence my analyses
traverse various interpretive paradigms in order to try to make sense of the works in the context of
post civil war Lebanon. In this aspect, my thesis is a work of contemplation and breaks with some
academic forms.
Table of Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ i
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................. ii
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. iv
Preface ............................................................................................................................................. xi
Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... xiii

INTRODUCTION................................................................. ..............................................................1
CHAPTER ONE | In war, truth is the first casualty………………………………………………...16
The cedar nation ............................................................................................................................. 17
In war, truth is the first casualty ..................................................................................................... 19
Social Contract for Truth ................................................................................................................ 57
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 69

CHAPTER TWO | ‘truth’ unfinished ................................................................................................. 74
Finding the Field ............................................................................................................................ 75
Forest for the Trees ........................................................................................................................ 90
Clearing ........................................................................................................................................ 126
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 146

CHAPTER THREE | Introducing notions of ‘truth’ in post civil war era artworks by Akram Zaatari
and Walid Raad. ............................................................................................................................... 150
‘truth’ – Zaatari and Raad ............................................................................................................ 150
Creative Differences, a conversation ........................................................................................... 165
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 181

CHAPTER FOUR | Notions of ‘truth’, time, history and memory in post civil war era artworks by
Zaatari and Raad. .............................................................................................................................. 182
unresolved .................................................................................................................................... 183
oscillating ..................................................................................................................................... 212
unending ....................................................................................................................................... 241
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 275
CHAPTER FIVE | Notions of ‘truth’, archive and document in post civil war era artworks by
Zaatari and Raad. ............................................................................................................................. 276
Archive/ Document - Zaatari ....................................................................................................... 277
Archive/ Document - Raad .......................................................................................................... 322
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 359

CHAPTER SIX | Discussion. .......................................................................................................... 361
Discussion—Notions of ‘truth’, time, history and memory in post civil war era artworks by
Zaatari and Raad .......................................................................................................................... 363
Discussion—Notions of ‘truth’, archive and document in post civil war era artworks by Zaatari
and Raad ...................................................................................................................................... 398
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 434

CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................ 437
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................ 444
List of Figures
INTRODUCTION

Figure 1 Sunset over the Mediterranean in Beirut. Photo: E. Nevalainen. August 2011.
CHAPTER
 ONE

Figure 1 Al-Shouf Cedar Reserve, Barouk Cedar Forest. Photo: E. Nevalainen. August 2011.
Figure 2 Make shift Lebanese flag with its distinctive cedar tree. View from the Corniche. Photo: E.
Nevalainen. June 2011.
Figure 3 Student work for “City as a Lab: Beirut+NYC” (AUB and The New School) at Karaj:
Beirut’s lab for experimental arts and technology. Image: E. Nevalainen. July 2011.
Figure 4 Many buildings in Beirut are derelict, abandoned and still bear the wounds of the fifteen-
year civil war. Photo: E. Nevalainen. July 2011.
Figure 5 Buildings are not renovated due to property laws and lack of funds. Photo: E. Nevalainen.
July 2011
Figure 6 Political stencil art on a wall in Hamra. Photo: E. Nevalainen. July 2011.
Figure 7 A literally de-faced political campaign poster in Gemmayzeh. Photo: E. Nevalainen. July
2011.
Figure 8 Two famous Beirut hotels. Infront, the Phoenicia est. 1961—fully restored and luxurious
today. Behind, the infamous Holiday Inn that was at the center of the battle that divided
Beirut into “Christian East” and “Muslim West”. Photo: E. Nevalainen. July 2011.
Figure 9 Abandoned room in Achrafieh. Its occupants pulled open the draws, cleared the shelves
and left the doors akimbo on their way out. Poster of Michael Jackson and a local celebrity.
Photo: E. Nevalainen. August 2011
Figure 10 Skeleton of a house on top of Jabal Knayseh. Due to its strategic position, it was used by
many militias during the civil war. Photo: E. Nevalainen. August 2011.
Figure 11 Strategic views over the hills and valleys around Jabal Knayseh. Photo: E. Nevalainen.
August 2011.
Figure 12 Tribute to assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Saida. Photo: E.
Nevalainen. August 2011.
Figure 13 View from Al-Mataf, National Museum. Photo: E. Nevalainen. August 2011.
CHAPTER
 TWO

Figure 1 The cover of Out of Beirut and a page showing books that have featured Raad’s work.
Image: Walid Raad. Scratching on Things I Could Disavow. 159.
Figure 2 Detail of an Arabic language magazine review of Zaatari’s exhibition “Earth of Endless
Secrets”.
Figure 3 Excerpt from the “Home Works” 2002 publication showing Catherine David and the title
of her presentation.
Figure 4 ‘Contemporary Arab Representations. Beirut / Lebanon
Figure 5 ‘Not all the authors contributing Contemporary Arab Representations at this stage have
been able or willing to be present in the context of the Venice Biennial and confront a
situation of paradoxical visibility in a global event where dissymmetric situations are not
yet openly proclaimed (in terms of budgets, structures of production and presentation, and
political and cultural agendas)’. Image and Text: <universes-in-universe.de>
Figure 6 MENASArt Fair, Beirut July 2011. Photo: E. Nevalainen. July 2011.
Figure 7 Cover for the publication accompanying the inaugural “Home Works” in 2002.
Figure 8 2002 Cover of Canadian magazine Parachute, issue 108, dedicated to “Beyrouth_Beirut”.
Image: <www.e-flux.com>
Figure 9 Cover of Tamáss: Contemporary Arab Representations Beirut / Lebanon, 2002. Fundacio
Antoni Tapies, Barcelona, 2002. ‘Curator: Catherine David. Note: Also included in Venice
Biennale 50. Chakar, Tony; Khbeiz, Bilal; Khoury, Elias; Makdisi, Saree; Mroue, Rabih;
Raad, Walid / The Atlas Group; Rechmaoui, Marwan; Sadek, Walid; Toufic, Jalal; Yacoub,
Paola / Michael Lasserre. Image and text: <www.leftmatrix.com>
Figure 10 Promotional poster for DisORIENTation, 2003. ‘BERLIN, Mar 20 - By a bizarre
coincidence, a major exhibition featuring contemporary Arab artists from the Middle East
opened here in Berlin on the very day the U.S.-British spearheaded war on Iraq got
underway’. Image and text: <www.gallardo.net>
Figure 11 Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige. 'Wonder Beirut #13, Modern Beirut, International
Centre of Water-skiing', from the series 'Wonder Beirut: The Story of a Pyromaniac
Photographer'�1997–2006�C-print mounted on aluminium with face mounting. Image:
<www.vam.ac.uk>
Figure 12 Exhibition view of Bernard Khoury’s “Prisoner of War”. Beirut Art Center, July 23.09 –
October 03.09.2009. Image: <beirutartcenter.org>
Figure 13 Tony Chakar. “4 cotton underwear for Tony”. 2000. Image: <universes-in-universe.org>
Figure 14 Christine Tohme. Image: <artforum.com>
Figure 15 Walid Sadek. “We Do Not Leave Hamra”. 2000. Image: <www.ashkalalwan.org>
Figure 16 Beirut Art Center in Jisr El Wati. ‘BEIRUT — Along the Beirut River just outside of the
city center is an industrial neighborhood of small warehouses and factories, car dealerships
and crumbling, squat buildings that bear the scars of bullets from Lebanon’s wars. It is a
place, in other words, that would be the perfect home for the art galleries of Chelsea or the
meatpacking district — and, indeed, where a cultural space that would be the envy of New
York has come to life’. Image and text: <www.nytimes.com>
Figure 17 Ashkal Alwan in Jisr el Wati. ‘Opening Hours Monday–Friday 10am-6pm.The Lebanese
Association for Plastic Arts, Ashkal Alwan. http://www.ashkalalwan.org’. Image and text:
<www.artandeducation.net>
Figure 18 Spray painted stencil in Gemmayzeh. Ceci n’est pas un tag: this is not a tag. This almost
certainly refers to a graffiti ‘tag’ which means: ‘The most basic form of graffiti, a writer's
signature with marker or spray paint. It is the writer's logo, his/her stylized personal
signature’. Text: <www.graffiti.org>. Photo: E. Nevalainen. September 2011.
Figure 19 ‘Artists and writers had clearly engaged with the idea of the damaged condition of ‘truth’
and its correlates of perennial instability and permanent war, but had left this analysis
incomplete’. Photo: E. Nevalainen. August 2011.
Figure 20 Wilson-Goldie has surmised that ‘I think trauma is too close to victimhood. Although it’s
very clearly something everyone has’. Spray painted stencil on a garage door in Mar
Mikhael and a box outside a hospital in Sanayeh. Photos: E. Nevalainen. September 2011.
Figure 21 Construction in Downtown Beirut continues at a chaotic rate. Photo: E. Nevalainen. July
2011.
Figure 22 Dusk over Marfaa. Photo: E. Nevalainen. July 2011.
CHAPTER
 THREE

Figure 1 Files with clippings of articles and various research materials of Raad’s work at Sfeir-
Semler Gallery in Qarantina, Beirut. Image: <www.taswir.org>
Figure 2 Akram Zaatari. Image: <www.fact.co.uk>
Figure 3 Zaatari talking with Hashem el Madani in the latter’s Saida studio. Video still. Image:
<www.sfmoma.org>
Figure 4 Zaatari describing Hashem el Madani’s influence on his practice. Video still. Image:
<www.sfmoma.org>
Figure 5 Walid Raad. There are very few publically available images of Raad, who according to
Wilson-Goldie ‘declines being photographed’. Left Image: <www.revistadearte.com>.
Right Image: <haudenschildgarage.com >
Figure 6 Raad presenting “The Loudest Muttering is Over: Documents from The Atlas Group
Archive” at the haudenschild Garage on April 10, 2007. Image: <haudenschildgarage.com>
Figure 7 Raad at the lectern. Video still from a performance/ presentation of “My Neck Is Thinner
than a Hair” in 2005. Image: André Lepecki. “After All, Terror Was Not Without Reason:
Unfiled Notes on the Atlas Group Archive”. TDR: The Drama Review 50.3 (2006): 88.
Figure 8 Video still from Zaatari’s “This Day” showing some of the white gloves needed for
handling historical photographs, a light box and various prints. Image: <www.sfeir-
semler.com>
Figure 9 Installation view of Zaatari’s “This Day”@ Magasin Centre National d’Art Contemporain
de Grenoble, 2012. Image: <www.taswir.org>
Figure 10 Old Arab Image Foundation premises in the Starco Building in Bad Idriss. Photo: E.
Nevalainen July 2011.
Figure 11 Screen grab of a page on the Arab Image Foundation web page. Image: <www.fai.org.lb>
Figure 12 Screen grab of a page on the Atlas Group Archive web page. Image:
<www.theatlasgroup.org>
Figure 13 Exhibition view of an Atlas Group wall installation. Image: <www.theatlasgroup.org>
Figure 14 Walid Raad and Akram Zaatari. “Mapping Sitting - On Portraiture and Photography”.
2002. Image: <universes-in-universe.org>
Figure 15 Detail of ID photo configuration in “Mapping Sitting” wall installation. Image:
<universes-in-universe.org>
Figure 16 Video still from “Mapping Sitting”. 2002. “Tell Square West”, ‘still from video
composite installation featuring 60 photo surprise photographs from Photo Jack archives
dating from the 1950s (Tripoli, Lebanon)’. DVD, 45-second loop. Image and text:
<www.nyu.edu>
Figure 17 Jalal Toufic. Image: Lamia Joreige. “Objects of War”. Art Journal (2007): 31.
Figure 18 Jalal Toufic. “Minor Art: conceptual Posters and Book Covers”. 2000-2006. Inkjet on
paper. Image: <www.daratalfunun.org>
CHAPTER
 FOUR

Figure 1 Beiruti artist Ghayth El Amine who plays the younger man in “Nature Morte”. Image:
Lamia Joreige. “Objects of War”. Art Journal (2007): 31.
Figure 2 The elder man and the younger man in “Nature Morte”. Image: <www.outset.org.uk>
Figure 3 “Nature Morte”. Image: publication in conjunction with “Earth of Endless Secrets”, 2009.
Figure 4 “Nature Morte”. Image: publication in conjunction with “Earth of Endless Secrets”, 2009.
Figure 5 “Nature Morte”. Image: publication in conjunction with “Earth of Endless Secrets”, 2009.
Figure 6 Montage of video stills from “Nature Morte”. Image: <oktobarskisalon.org>
Figure 7 Excerpts of an interview between Bachar and Raad. Image: Walid Raad. Scratching on
Things I Could Disavow. 124, 130 and136
Figure 8 Previous page and this page, video still images from “Hostage” #17.
Figure 9 Installation view of “Hostage” as a part of "The Dead Weight of Quarrel Hangs:
Documents From the Atlas Group Archives" at the Kitchen, New York, in 2006. Image:
<www.nytimes.com>
Figure 10 Video still images from “Hostage” tape #31.
Figure 11 The next four pages reproduce the transcript of “In This House” from the publication
“Earth of Endless Secrets”, 2009.
Figure 12 The recovered mortar shell. Gathered observers in as much as they agreed to be shown.
Video still.
Figure 13 This is the house. Video still from “In This House”.
Figure 14 The buried mortar casing and pages of Hashisho’s letter. Images: publication in
conjunction with “Earth of Endless Secrets”, 2004.
Figure 15 Appendix page to “Missing Lebanese Wars” in The Complete Fakhouri File attributed to
Dr. Fadl Fakhouri. Image: <www.theatlasgroup.org>
Figure 19 Dr. Jibrail Jabbur’s original book on the Bedouin of the Arab East. Image: publication in
conjunction with “Earth of Endless Secrets”, 2009.
Figure 20 Zaatari's recreation of Dr. Jabbur’s original photo, now with fifth girl on the far end.
Image: publication in conjunction with “Earth of Endless Secrets”, 2009.
Figure 21 Montage of images from the desert panorama. Image: <a4.ec-images.myspacecdn.com>
Figure 23 Top: desert panorama. Image: <www.kaplanscholars.northwestern.edu> Below: Zaatari’s
collected materials. Video Stills. Images: publication in conjunction with “Earth of Endless
Secrets”, 2009.
Figure 24 Top: Zaatari. “Saida June 6, 1982”. Digital composite image. 112 x 300cm. Image:
<www.afterall.org>
Figure 25 Middle: Plastic photo album with the photos Zaatari took as a teenager, and which
inspired him to make “Saida June 6, 1982”. Images: publication in conjunction with “Earth
of Endless Secrets”, 2009.
Figure 26 Installation view. Image: Magasin, Grenoble, 2012.
Figure 27 Above: the alchemy of the editing suite. Video Still. Image: publication in conjunction
with “Earth of Endless Secrets”, 2009. Figure 28 Below: installation view of “This Day”.
Image: <www.tate.org.uk
Figure 30 The following images are from “Let’s Be Honest, The Weather Helped”. They do not
have individual descriptions. Images: <www.theatlasgroup.org>
Figure 31 The film rolls for “No illness is neither here nor there” and “Miraculous Beginnings”.
Image: <www.theatlasgroup.org> Figure 32 Opening title. Video still.
Figure 34 Images: <www.theatlasgroup.org>
CHAPTER
 FIVE

Figure 1 Historical archives in Berlin. Image: <www.digitaljournal.com>
Figure 2 AIF at Sodeco. Images: E. Nevalainen. Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Figure 3 Online quotation from AIF Director Zeina Arida. Image: <krachtvancultuur.nl>
Figure 4 AIF postcard series using photographs from their archive. Photo: E. Nevalainen. October
2011.
Figure 5 Zaatari speaking about “Archives of Disputed Histories (II)” at the conference “The
Archive as a Project. The Politics and Poetics of the (Photo) Archive”. May 13-14th, 2011,
the Archeology of Photography Foundation in Warsaw, Poland. Image: <vimeo.com>
Figure 8 Akram Zaatari. “On Photography, People and Modern Times”, 2010. �Two-channel video
projection and an installation of 15 single channel videos . Image: <www.tate.org.uk>
Figure 9 Zaatari handling prints for “This Day”. Video stills.
Figure 10 Draw with neat rows of rolls of film in original boxes. From the Lebanese commercial
studio Photo Jack. Image: <photobeirut.typepad.com>
Figure 11 Photographs showing preservation, collection management and digitization at AIF.
Images: Agop Kanledjian <www.fai.org>
Figure 12 The following excerpts are from an interview between Zaatari and el Madani, reproduced
from the publication “Hashem EL Madani: Studio Practices”.
Figure 14 Installation view of gunmen from the project Hashem el Madani: Studio Practices at The
12th Istanbul Biennale, 2011. Image: <www.art-it.asia>
Figure 15 Zaatari. “Studio Shehrazade: Reception Space” (2006). colour light jet print, each 110 cm
x 127 cm. Image: <www.artnet.com>
Figure 16 “Reception Space” as a part of an installation by Zaatari called “Twenty-Eight Nights and
a Poem” (2010) at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Mixed-media installation,
dimensions variable. Image: <www.sfmoma.org>
Figure 17 Young men posing with their guns. "After they joined the Military Struggle. Saida, Early