Walid Raad

Born in Lebanon, Raad has long explored the many manifestations of violence committed by and against both individuals and the state. The work in this show is a case in point: It revisits the Lebanese capital of Beirut, once known as the Paris of the Middle East, in the aftermath of the bloody 25-year-long civil war that leveled the city. Raad contemplates Beirut’s future through the prism of its apocalyptic past in pieces like a panoramic video projection of ruined buildings being demolished for reconstruction, in which the footage has been edited to appear like an animated Rorschach test.