Edited by Carolyn Christov-Barkargiev and Marianna Vecellio. With essays by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Habda Rashid, Nora Razian, Ella Shohat and Marianna Vecellio.
Sculptor, detective, draughtsman and some time chef, Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz (New York, 1973) takes his cue from the histories of buildings and objects to create enthralling environments. Moved by both the utopian aspirations and the disasters of modernity, Rakowitz’s work focuses on place and time – modernist St. Louis, Art Nouveau Istanbul, post-Taliban Afghanistan, turn of the century Iraq. A consummate storyteller, he explores the fall out of conflict and exile while delighting in the vernacular and activist strategies that communities in extremis adopt to survive.
This fully illustrated survey of his most important works is accompanied by an interview with Michael Rakowitz by Iwona Blazwick, alongside scholarly essays which contribute a range of new perspectives. The catalogue also features a definitive exhibition history, and an anthology brings together a chronology of key texts and interviews by Brian Boucher, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Paul Clements, Gökcan Demirkazik, Jimmie Durham, Peter Eleey, Hannah Feldman, Tasbeeh Herwees, Dan Jakubowski, Liza Johnson, Randy Kennedy, Lilly Lampe, Nell McClister, Evan Moffitt, Michael Pollack, Frances Richard, Dieter Roelstraete, Sukhdev Sandhu, Adrian Searle, Eva Scharrer, Nicola Setari, Valerie Smith, Andrea Viliani and Gregory Volk.
About the publisher
This is a co-publication between Whitechapel Gallery, Castello di Rivoli and Silvana Editoriale.
