04. Project Proposal: Wafaa Bilal
The artist I will be presenting for the mini-lesson is Wafaa Bilal. Bilal, born in 1966 Iraq, is known internationally for his online performative and interactive works provoking dialogue about international politics and international dynamics. He is also an Associate Arts Professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
His work is mostly centered around international politics and dynamics, specifically by the experience of fleeing his homeland and existing simultaneously in two worlds – his home in the “comfort zone” of the U.S. and his consciousness of the “conflict zone” in Iraq. The Internet is a big part of Bilal’s platform, and he also uses his own body as a medium. Bilal seeks to challenge the viewer out of their comfort zone and face them with realities that are more sensitive through his subject matter that centers war, conflict zones, and double standards within eastern and western culture. The fact that his work is interactive pushes this discomfort even further as it puts the viewer in the center of these political statements, which is different than the works we have seen in class so far, which mostly focused the interactivities on the viewer adding creative components to the work.
· Bilal’s Approach to Interactivity (techniques, mediums, philosophy…)
· The statements he makes through his interactive works
· Significant works and their specific interactivites, their messages, their impacts
o Maybe more as I continue my research.
· How are Bilal’s works interactive?
· What is Bilal’s approach to interactivity?
· What is he trying to communicate through his work?
· Why does he choose to make interactive media art?
Wafaa Bilal + Interactive, Iraq, Internet art, Iraq war, NYU, Tisch School of Arts, Iraqi-American, Interactivity, Youtube, Installation, Twitter, Online, Interactive Media art, Performance, Installation, Family, Brother, Death, Al Qaeda…
Wafaa Bilal, Official Website, http://wafaabilal.com/, 2016.
Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun, Wafaa BILAL, Kari LYDERSEN, 2008.
Wafaa Bilal, Official Youtube Account, https://www.youtube.com/user/mewafaa.
How Popular Media Misrepresented a Controversial Artist, Monica LABELLE,http://fnewsmagazine.com/wp/2008/04/wafaa-bilal/, 2008.