There is a Crack in Everything: That's How The Light Gets In
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 · 7 - 8 PM
Michael Rakowitz, Professor, Art Theory and Practice, Northwestern University
Artist Michael Rakowitz discusses his work, in the context of hope and antagonism, and at the intersection of problem solving and trouble-making. Rakowitz’s symbolic interventions in problematic urban situations extend from paraSITE (1998 -
ongoing), in which the artist custom builds inflatable shelters for homeless people that attach to the exterior outtake vents of a
building’s HVAC system, to Minaret (2001-Ongoing), in which access is gained to an architecturally-appropriate rooftop in a Western
city and the Islamic call to prayer is sounded five times a day with the
help of a megaphone for amplification. In Spoils (2011) Rakowitz made a
culinary intervention at New York City’s Park Avenue restaurant by
inviting diners to eat traditional Iraqi dishes on plates looted from
Saddam Hussein’s personal collection. The project culminated in the
repatriation of the former Iraqi President’s flatware to the Republic of
Iraq at the behest of current Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki on December
15, 2011, the date Coalition Forces left Iraq. In a related culinary-art project in Chicago, titled Enemy Kitchen
(2012), Rakowitz devised a food truck that was manned by Iraqi War veterans working under Iraqi refugee chefs and served Iraqi cuisine to
the public.
Bio:
Michael Rakowitz is Professor of Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University. Born in New York in 1973, Rakowitz is an Iraqi-American conceptual artist who works in a range of media to provoke discourse on contemporary politics. His solo exhibition, The worst condition is to pass under a sword which is not one’s own (2010), was exhibited at the Tate Modern, London. Another project, The Breakup, first presented at Al Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem in 2010, was exhibited at Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago in 2014. Rakowitz’s work is featured in major private and public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Neue Galerie, Kassel, Germany; Smart Museum of Art, Chicago; Van Abbemuseum, Endhoven, Netherlands; British Museum; Kabul National Museum, Afghanistan; and UNESCO, Paris. Rakowitz is the recipient of a six prestigious awards from international foundations, most recently, a 2012 Louis Tiffany Foundation Award.
Michael Rakowitz is Professor of Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University. Born in New York in 1973, Rakowitz is an Iraqi-American conceptual artist who works in a range of media to provoke discourse on contemporary politics. His solo exhibition, The worst condition is to pass under a sword which is not one’s own (2010), was exhibited at the Tate Modern, London. Another project, The Breakup, first presented at Al Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem in 2010, was exhibited at Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago in 2014. Rakowitz’s work is featured in major private and public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Neue Galerie, Kassel, Germany; Smart Museum of Art, Chicago; Van Abbemuseum, Endhoven, Netherlands; British Museum; Kabul National Museum, Afghanistan; and UNESCO, Paris. Rakowitz is the recipient of a six prestigious awards from international foundations, most recently, a 2012 Louis Tiffany Foundation Award.