calendario eventi  :: 

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18/2/2011

Two exhibitions

BildMuseet, Umea

Walid Raad: Miraculous Beginnings

Bildmuseet presents the first major Swedish exhibition of US-Lebanese artist, Walid Raad.

One of the most important artists from the Middle East, Walid Raad says his work 'was in some ways made possible by the civil wars in Lebanon'. He playfully considers the effects of conflict not only on body and mind, but also on art itself. Bildmuseet presents his most important works from the past 20 years for the first time in Sweden in Walid Raad: Miraculous Beginnings.

Now living in the US, Raad's work The Atlas Group (1989 – 2004) is rooted in his experiences as a teenager in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil Wars (1975 – 90). His artworks, presented as documents and attributed to fictional as well as historical figures, narrate and visualise stories about the Lebanese wars of the past three decades. His images piece together a complex story of modern Lebanon – a history which still cannot be taught at school – with Raad's exploration of photographic medium, its materials and conventions.

The exhibition begins with photography and videotapes by The Atlas Group (1989 – 2004), Raad's project on the Lebanese wars. He queries how history, in particular one characterised as traumatic, can be told and visually represented. Key works include the photographic series Secrets in the open sea (1994/2004); Civilizationally, we do not dig holes to bury ourselves (1993/2003); My neck Is thinner than a hair: Engines (2001/2003); We decided to let them say, "we are convinced," twice (2002/2006); and Let's be honest, the weather helped (1998/2006-7), and selected video works.

Sweet Talk: Commissions (Beirut) (1987 – present), shown for the first time, presents a series of photo assignments Raad gave himself about Beirut to capture the changing face of his home city.

The final section, Scratching on Things I Could Disavow: A History of Art in the Arab World (2008 – present), looks at the boom of contemporary art in the Middle East and how this affects artists working in the region.

Walid Raad: Miraculous Beginnings is curated by Achim Borchardt-Hume, Chief Curator, Whitechapel Gallery. The exhibition is a collaboration between Whitechapel Gallery and Bildmuseet, Umeå University.

Walid Raad: Miraculous Beginnings is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue co-published by Whitechapel Gallery and Festival D'Automne à Paris with contributions by Walid Raad, Achim Borchardt-Hume, Chief Curator, Whitechapel Gallery, Hélène Chouteau-Matikian, writer and curator, Alan Gilbert, writer and poet, and Blake Stimson, Professor of Art History at University of California.Walid Raad is represented by Anthony Reynolds Gallery in London, Paula Cooper Gallery in New York, and Galerie Sfeir-Semler in Hamburg and Beirut.

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SE KEMI!
Year of Chemistry 2011

On 19 February, the Department of Chemistry at Umeå University inaugurates the International Year of Chemistry 2011 with an exhibition at Bildmuseet museum. The research is visualised with fascinating images of bacteria, snowflakes, proteins, and more.

Nature and life's smallest building blocks often form beautiful patterns. The images are also an important tool in chemical research to understand the world around us. The exhibition SE KEMI! (English: See chemistry!) shows current chemical research at Umeå University in a different way. The images illustrate new ways to disarm bacteria, how environmental toxins are transported in our nature, new materials with interesting properties and the small workhorses in our bodies – proteins. This knowledge gives us for example tools to eventually be able to treat diseases such as ALS, to find solutions for a cleaner environment and to produce many new products.

The exhibition also shows a close up of a snowflake which opens our eyes to nature's regularity and beauty. The photographer is the American physicist Kenneth Libbrecht, who last year won the Lennart Nilsson Award - the world's most prestigious distinction in scientific and medical photography.

The International Year of Chemistry 2011 is a worldwide celebration of the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to the well-being of humankind, initiated by the United Nations. In Umeå the International Year of Chemistry will be inaugurated with the exhibition SE KEMI! at Bildmuseet. This is one of several activities organised by the Department of Chemistry at Umeå University during the year.

The exhibition will run from 19 February until 25 April, 2011. During the same period, Bildmuseet presents the exhibition Miraculous Beginnings, the first major Swedish exhibition of US-Lebanese artist, Walid Raad.

INFORMATION |
Brita Täljedal ,curator
brita.taljedal@bildmuseet.umu.se; 090-786 7714

Image: Walid Raad Let's be honest, the weather helped (plate 008_Finland)
1998/2006-7, 17 Lightjet prints, Each 488 x 72.4 cm
Courtesy Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London
© The artist

Opening Saturday, February 19, 1pm

BildMuseet
Umea universitet, SE- 901 87 - Umea

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