Jamal Penjweny. Work from the series ‘Saddam is Here’. 2010. Photograph. 23 2/3 × 31 1/2″ (60 × 80 cm). Courtesy the artist
Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991–2011 MoMA PS1 presents ‘Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991–2011’, a large-scale group exhibition examining the legacies of American-led military engagement in Iraq beginning with the Gulf War in 1991. November 3, 2019 to March 1, 2020.]]>
Source: MoMA PS1
Through more than 250 works, the exhibition explores the effects of these wars on artists based in Iraq and its diasporas, as well as those responding to the war from the West. Featuring the work of over 75 artists including Afifa Aleiby, Dia Azzawi, Thuraya al-Baqsami, Paul Chan, Harun Farocki, Tarek Al-Ghoussein, Guerrilla Girls, Thomas Hirschhorn, Hiwa K, Hanaa Malallah, Monira Al Qadiri, Nuha al-Radi, and Ala Younis, “Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991–2011” is on view across the entire MoMA PS1 building.
While brief, the 1991 Gulf War marked the start of a lengthy period of military involvement with Iraq that led to more than a decade of sanctions and the 2003 Iraq War. The invasion in 2003 galvanized a broader international response, prompting anti-war protests around the globe. Though the Iraq War officially ended in 2011, artists have continued to explore these conflicts and their ongoing impacts. The works in Theater of Operations reveal how this period was defined by unsettling intersections of spectacularized violence, xenophobia, oil dependency, and new imperialisms.
Related content
‘A Universal History of Infamy’ – LACMA (exhibition, 2018)
Follow us on:
