The Iraq Book Project
Hauser and Wirth is proud to present an exhibition of new and recent work by Los Angeles-based
artist Rachel Khedoori. For her first solo exhibition in London, Khedoori will present 'The Iraq Book
Project', as well as a photographic series and a film installation featured upstairs in the American
Room. Since the mid 1990s, Khedoori has created complex investigations weaving together
architecture, sculpture and film. She often uses constructed elements and mirrors alongside film
projections, creating works that can be explored both physically and psychologically.
'The Iraq Book Project', Khedoori's ongoing
documentary piece, consists of a chronological
compilation of news articles found online using the
search terms 'Iraq', 'Iraqi' or 'Baghdad'. The articles
begin on 18 March 2003, the start date of the Iraq
war, and in theory, can continue indefinitely. Presented
as a series of large books on tall tables, the articles
are sourced from a wide range of news services
based all over the world, translated into English
and formatted to flow together seamlessly; the only
separation between the articles is the emboldened
lettering of the titles, date and source. For this project,
the gallery will be turned into a research centre with
articles being compiled, printed and added to the
books throughout the duration of the exhibition. 'The
Iraq Book Project' is an attempt to find words for an
indescribable event, highlighting the way in which
perceptions of an event change depending upon time
and place.
Throughout her artistic practice, Khedoori has
interpreted landscape as a place where one's
memories are stored. Khedoori's new film
installation is a technically simple work consisting
of a pan of an Australian landscape projected onto
a screen placed at a 90 degree angle to a mirror
of the same size. The point where the projection
and the mirror meet draws the viewer in, giving the
illusion of an image that is continually peeling away
from itself. The doubling of the image caused by
the projection and adjacent mirror is reminiscent
of a Rorschach test which has the effect of
simultaneously morphing one's perception of the
landscape and the film projection itself.
Rachel Khedoori was born in Sydney, Australia in
1964 and has been living and working in Los Angeles
since 1990. She gained international recognition in
2001 with her first comprehensive solo exhibition
at Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland, and Kunstverein
Braunschweig, Germany. She has since participated
in numerous important group exhibitions and biennials
including 'Paul McCarthy’s Low Life Slow Life: Part
2', CCA Wattis Institute of Contemporary Art, San
Francisco CA (2009), 'Fare Mondi/Making Worlds',
La Biennale di Venezia (2009) and the travelling
exhibition 'Blickmaschinen/Visual Tactics or how
pictures emerge' which opened at Museum für
Gegenwartskunst, Siegen, Germany (2008).
Image: Untitled (Pink Room #5) 2001, Ilfochrome print, 71.1 x 53.3 cm / 28 x 21 in
© Rachel Khedoori
For press enquiries please contact Catherine Mason or Kristina McLean at
Calum Sutton PR on + 44 (0) 20 7183 3577 / catherine@suttonpr.com, kristina@suttonpr.com
or Hauser & Wirth on + 44 (0) 20 7399 9785 / press@hauserwith.com
Opening: Thursday 3 June 6 - 8 pm
Hauser & Wirth
196A Piccadilly - London