Before It’s Gone:

Show: Walid Raad’s Scratching on Things I Could Disavow and The Atlas Group Archive

Where: The Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Avenue, Boston MA 02210

End date: 5/30/16

Suggested book pairing: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Walid Raad is an artist with over 25 years experience in fine arts with a mixed media approach to installation with performance sprinkled in.  A good M.O of Raad should note his specific approach to the gallery setting and the white cube and in particular his utilization of the the institution to frame his ideas.  In fact I have a hunch that Raad’s work wouldn’t pack as much of a punch were it not displayed within the heart of an institution, or maybe that’s just the icing on the cake.  You see, Raad’s work presents itself deeply as factual analysis: real people, real events, real photographs to prove it, but it is precisely this that demands questioning first.  Raad uses the linguistic context of the institution to convey trauma.  Through the sterile archive, Raad psychologically distances himself and us from the real horrors of the Lebanese civil wars, yet brings us back in with poetic stories accompanying each piece, as seen in Atlas Group Archive.  In this way Raad brings a clinical approach as though trying to make sense of the utter senselessness of war.  In part two of Raad’s double header, Scratching on Things I Could Disavow, Raad’s 5-piece series explores the growth of the art institution in the middle east alongside his own journey of investigation into these new white cubes.  

Not to be missed, Raad’s show is up until May 30th and make sure you pick up the free audio guide to accompany the show, you won’t regret it.

All images courtesy of The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. 2016. Photos by John Kennard