Walid Raad: Miraculous Beginnings’ was curated by Achim Borchardt-Hume, the Chief Curator of Whitechapel Gallery. The exhibition was a collaboration between Whitechapel Gallery and Bildmuseet, Umeå University. and was accompanied by this fully illustrated catalogue.
The publication brings together three major bodies of work: the photographic and video works produced under the fictional collective name The Atlas Group; various series of seemingly “straight” photography of his native Beirut titled Sweet Talk: Commissions (Beirut); and his most recent project, Scratching on Things I Could Disavow: A History of Art in the Arab World.
This catalogue includes an exchange between the artist and curator Achim Borchardt-Hume; an essay on conceptions of truth by poet and writer Alan Gilbert; a text on Raad’s use of photography and its ties to Beirut by Blake Stimson; and an essay by Hélène Chouteau-Matikian.
About the Artist
Walid Raad works with mixed media installation, performance, video, photography and text to create a substantial body of work the offers multi-layered narratives on the contemporary history of Lebanon.
About the Authors
Achim Borchardt-Hume is a German art curator and the Director of Exhibitions at Tate.
Alan Gilbert is an award-winning art writer who has authored poetry and essay collections and contributed catalogue essays for biennials and various group and solo shows.
Blake Stimson is Professor of Art History at the University of California, Davis.
Hélène Chouteau-Matikian is a writer and curator.
About the Publisher
The Whitechapel Gallery publishes a diverse range of contemporary art catalogues, archival reprints and artist’s books, as well as the successful Documents of Contemporary Art series of critical anthologies co-published with The MIT Press. Profits from its publications go towards supporting the Gallery’s future programme.
