Contemporary Lebanese Art, the Artists’ Archive, and Representation of the Civil War

Sunhee Jang

This thesis investigates the ways in which the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) has been represented by two Lebanese artists, Walid Raad (1967~) and Akram Zaatari (1966~). First, I problematize the ongoing censorship surrounding documenting and writing the histories of the civil war. (In Lebanon, complicated relationships among different religious and ethnic groups make it hard to agree on how to historicize the war.) Then, I analyze two different types of the artists’ archive—The Atlas Group Archive (1989-2004) by Raad is fictional, and the Arab Image Foundation(AIF, 1997~) where Zaatari was president, is real. Through analysis of the archives, I discuss how the artists have been intervening in writing history of war by questioning the power and authenticity of the archive itself. I then turn to the AIF and Zaatari’s uses of the archival materials. I argue that Zaatari employs Foucault’s archaeological and genealogical methods of history by examining the artist’s film and installation Letter to a Refusing Pilot(2013). Finally, I claim that Zaatari’s representation of the civil war, which is based on his experiences rather than objective data, delivers truer narratives than any other, by crossing the borders of faction and fact.

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* 2021년 이후 발행 논문의 참고문헌은 현재 구축 중입니다.

[journal] 장선희 / 2017 / Parafiction and Contemporary Artists’ Intervention in the Writing of Histories —Michael Blum and Walid Raad— / 조형디자인연구 / 사단법인 한국조형디자인협회 20(1) : 205~221

[journal] 장선희 / 2013 / Tacita Dean—Contemporary Art, Archive Fever, and Alternative History / 서양미술사학회 논문집 / 서양미술사학회 (39) : 329~351

[journal] Al-Kassim, Dina / 2002 / Crisis of the Unseen: Unearthing the Political Aesthetics of Hysteria in the Archaeology and Arts of the New Beirut / Parachute 108(Winter) : 146~163

[other] Azimi, Negar / 2013 / A Pilot’s Refusal, Reimagined / The New York Review

[journal] Baird, Daniel / 2005 / Radical Politics: Walid Raad / Border Crossings 24(2) : 34~41

[journal] Baker, George / 2005 / Photography’s Expanded Field / October 114(Autumn) : 120~140

[book] Chomsky, Noam / 1999 / ateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians / Pluto Press

[book] Cotter, Suzanne / 2009 / Contemporary Art in the Middle East:Artworld / Black Dog Publishing : 50~57

[journal] Demos, T. J.. / 2008 / Questionnaire: Demos / October 123(Winter) : 33~37

[book] Derrida, Jacques / 1998 / Archive Fever : A Freudian Impression / University of Chicago Press

[journal] Elias, Chad / 2013 / The Libidinal Archive: A Conversation with Akram Zaatari / Tate Papers (19)

[book] Enwezor, Okwui / 2008 / Archive Fever: Uses of the Document in Contemporary Art / ICP : 11~51

[journal] Hannah Feldman / 2009 / Excavating Images on the Border / Third Text / Informa UK Limited 23(3) : 309~322 / 10.1080/09528820902954945

[journal] Hannah Feldman / 2014 / Mining War: Fragments from a Conversation Already Passed / Art Journal / Informa UK Limited 66(2) : 48~67 / 10.1080/00043249.2007.10791254

[journal] Foster, Hal / 2004 / An Archive Impulse / October 110(Fall) : 3~22

[book] Foucault, Michel / 1977 / Language, Counter-Memory, Practice:Selected Essays and Interviews / Cornell University Press : 139~164

[book] Foucault, Michel / 1972 / The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse of Language / Pantheon Books : 125~129

[book] Foucault, Michel / 2003 / Society Must Be Defended: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-1976 / Picador : 7~9

[journal] Godfrey, Mark / 2007 / The Artist as Historian / October 120(Spring) : 140~172

[journal] Jameson, Fredric / 1984 / Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism / New Left Review I : 146~

[journal] Lambert-Beatty, Carrie / 2008 / Questionnaire: Lambert-Beatty / October 123(Winter) : 94~97

[other] Maktabi, Rima / 2012 / Lebanon’s Missing History: Why School Books Ignore the Past / CNN

[journal] Medina, José / 2011 / Toward a Foucauldian Epistemology of Resistance: Counter-Memory, Epistemic Friction, and Guerrilla Pluralism / Foucault Studies 12 : 9~35

[book] Moufawad-Paul, Vicky / 2015 / All is Well—Akram Zaatari / The Agnes Etherington Art Center, Carleton University Art Gallery : 10~23

[journal] Poster, Mark / 1982 / Foucault and History / Social Research / Modern Masters 49(1) : 116~142

[journal] / 2008 / Questionnaire / October 123(Winter) : 9~10

[web] Respini, Eva / 2013 / Interview with Akram Zaatari: Akram Zaatari and the Arab Image Foundation / https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/411

[book] Rodenbeck, Judith / 2015 / All is Well—Akram Zaatari / The Agnes Etherington Art Center;Ottawa, Carleton University Art Gallery : 48~55

[journal] Benjamin C. Sax / 2012 / Foucault, Nietzsche, history: Two modes of the genealogical method / History of European Ideas / Informa UK Limited 11(1-6) : 769~781 / 10.1016/0191-6599(89)90265-9

[journal] Giorgio Shani / 2010 / De-colonizing Foucault / International Political Sociology / Oxford University Press (OUP) 4(2) : 210~212 / 10.1111/j.1749-5687.2010.00100_7.x

[other] Siegal, Nina / 2013 / Lebanese Artist Explores ‘Human Face’ of Conflict / The New York Time

[other] Wilson-Goldie, Kaelen / 2013 / The Archaeology of Rumor / Nafas

이 논문은 한국연구재단의 지원을 받아 작성되었습니다.

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