Walid Raad
Scratching on things I could disavow Part I, Chapter I, Section:139, The Atlas Group (1989-2004) | 2008
Mixed media; video, wood, plexiglas, high density foam, Ipads. 282 x 104 x 32 cm . Ed.5/5 +2 AP

'Between 1989 and 2004, I worked on a project titled “The Atlas Group.” It consisted of artworks made possible by the Lebanese wars of the past few decades. In 2005, I was asked to exhibit this project for the first time in Lebanon, in Beirut’s first-of-its-kind white-cube art gallery. For some reason this offer perturbed me and I refused. In 2006, I was asked again. I refused again. In 2007, I was asked again. I refused again. In 2008, I was asked again. I agreed. Weeks later when I went to the gallery to inspect my exhibition before its opening, I was startled to find that all my artworks had shrunk to 1/100th of their original size. I subsequently decided to build a smaller white cube befitting my works’ new smaller dimensions, and to display them there.' (W. Raad)

Reference WR-MMI-2008-A

Biography of the artist

Born in Chbanieh, Lebanon. 1967
Works and Lives in New York City, U.S.A


Walid Raad is an artist and a Professor of Art in (the still-charging-tuition) The Cooper Union (New York, USA). Raad’s works include "The Atlas Group", a fifteen-year project between 1989 and 2004 about the contemporary history of Lebanon, and the ongoing projects "Scratching on Things I Could Disavow" and "Sweet Talk: Commissions" (Beirut). His books include "Walkthrough", "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 solo exhibitions include the "Louvre" (Paris), "The Museum of Modern Art" (New York, USA), "ICA"(Boston, USA), "Museo Jumex" (Mexico City, Mexico), "Kunsthalle Zurich" (Zurich, Switzerland), "The Whitechapel Art Gallery" (London, UK), "Festival d’Automne" (Paris, France), "Kunsten Festival des Arts (Brussels", Belgium), "The Hamburger Bahnhof" (Berlin, Germany). His works have also been shown in "Documenta 11" and 13 (Kassel, Germany), "The Venice Biennale" (Venice, Italy), "Whitney Bienniale 2000" and 2002 (New York, USA), "Sao Paulo Bienale" (Sao Paulo, Brazil), "Istanbul Biennal" (Istanbul, Turkey), "Homeworks I" and III (Beirut, Lebanon) and numerous other museums, biennales and venues in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. Raad is also the recipient of the "ICP Infinity Award" (2016), the "Hasselblad Award" (2011), a "Guggenheim Fellowship" (2009), the "Alpert Award" in Visual Arts (2007), the "Deutsche Börse Photography Prize" (2007), the "Camera Austria Award" (2005), a "Rockefeller Fellowship" (2003), among other grants, prizes and awards.