#michael rakowitz

first posted in facebook october 30, 2023

michael rakowitz -- "the invisible enemy should not exist (northwest palace of nimrud" room n, panel n-14

[composed of arabic newspapers, food packaging, cardboard relief sculptures on wood panel, museum labels]

"'the invisible enemy should not exist (northwest palace of nimrud)' constructs reappearances of historically looted and recently destroyed relief sculptures that lined the walls of the ancient assyrian palace of nimrud (present day mosul, iraq)" … nimrud gallery

"[this is] part of an ongoing series called 'the invisible enemy should not exist', which, [rakowitz] says, is a reflection on 'the threat to cultural heritage in times of war'. its long-term aim is to reproduce, in some shape or form, the 7,000 cultural artefacts that have been reported as missing, either looted or destroyed, since the beginning of the iraq war in 2003" … peter aspden

"i am attracted to work that can make you feel really good and really bad at the same time and i think that there’s something redemptive in the reappearance of these artefacts, these ghosts of things that are lost" … michael rakowitz

"you think that you can create a history of what has been. present artifacts. a clutch of letters. a sachet in a dressing table drawer. but that's not what's at the heart of the tale. the problem is that what drives the tale will not survive the tale" … cormac mccarthy

Michael Rakowitz (US, 1973)

The Monument, The Monster and The Maquette, May 6 - June 18, 2022

installation view Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago

Rakowitz’s two new sculptures expose the relationships between monuments in the US that have been removed and those that remain.

The word monument is derived from the Latin verb monere, meaning “to remind,” “to advise,” and “to warn.” It gives words like demonstrate and monster. Monsters have functioned allegorically throughout history, often sent from above as a warning.

https://www.rhoffmangallery.com/exhibitions/michael-rakowitz4

Michael Rakowitz. The invisible enemy should not exist (Room F, section 1, panel 10, Northwest Palace of Nimrudi), 2019, 2019.

The invisible enemy should not exist 2007 - ongoing, by Michael Rakowitz Drawings, Arabic newspaper and food packaging cardboard sculptures, museum labels, sound

paraSITE

1998 - ongoing

Plastic bags, polyethylene tubing, hooks, tape

Different urban sites in New York City, Boston and Cambridge MA, and Baltimore MD Exhibited at MoMA (2005), MassMOCA (2004), and elsewhere

Custom built inflatable shelters designed for homeless people that attach to the exterior outtake vents of a building’s Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. The warm air leaving the building simultaneously inflates and heats the double membrane structure. Built and distributed to over 30 homeless people in Boston and Cambridge, MA and New York City.

paraSITE, Michael Rakowitz, 1998-ongoing

Plastic bags, polyethylene tubing, hooks, tape

Different urban sites in New York City, Boston and Cambridge MA, and Baltimore MD Exhibited at MoMA (2005), MassMOCA (2004), and elsewhere

Custom built inflatable shelters designed for homeless people that attach to the exterior outtake vents of a building’s Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. The warm air leaving the building simultaneously inflates and heats the double membrane structure. Built and distributed to over 30 homeless people in Boston and Cambridge, MA and New York City.

Joe H. using his paraSITE shelter in February 2000. Joe is a homeless man who lived on the streets near Battery Park City in Manhattan. In the 1970s, he became a contractor and was responsible for building over fifteen buildings in Brooklyn. He was diagnosed with cancer in the 1980s after being exposed to Agent Orange while serving in the Air Force in Vietnam. After forty-seven different operations to treat the cancer, the Veteran’s Association of America ceased paying his medical bills and he went bankrupt.

Michael Rakowitz. Sabreen - Live in Jerusalem 2010 (The Breakup). 2012.