ART-PRESENTATION: Theater of Operations, The Gulf Wars 1991-2011

While brief, the 1991 Gulf War marked the start of a lengthy period of military involvement in the country 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 examine these conflicts and their ongoing impacts.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: MoMA Archive

American-led military engagement in Iraq over the last 30 years has had an indelible impact on contemporary culture and the work of artists around the world. These wars and their aftermaths have had devastating impacts on Iraq and its people, contributing to the destabilization of the broader Middle East. Conflict with Iraq has also become an enduring part of American life, influencing culture, politics, and identity.  With Turkey’s recent invasion of Kurdish-held Syria, this exhibition, which delves into America’s apparently endless wars in the Middle East, seems especially timely. A large-scale group exhibition examining the legacies of American-led military engagement in Iraq beginning with the Gulf War in 1991 is on show at MoMA PS1. Through more than 250 works by 82 artists, “Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991-2011” 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.   The artists in the exhibition were also impacted by significant cultural change during this period—including the advent of the 24-hour news cycle, the Internet, and new media and military technologies. The wide range of perspectives included in this exhibition also attests to the rich artistic traditions of contemporary Iraq, with artists working under conditions of war, embargo, and occupation placed in conversation with those responding to these wars from afar. The exhibition first made headlines when Phil Collins, one of the participating artists, pulled his work entitled “baghdad screentests” (2002) out of the exhibition to protest the museum’s, and its trustee Larry Fink’s, alleged investments in private prison companies. Some of the artists participating in the exhibition were denied travel visas to the US, while others had no chance of attending the exhibition’s opening because of Trump’s travel ban or their asylum status in other countries. Dutch-Iraqi artist Afifa Aleiby is one of the artists in the exhibitions who was denied a travel visa to the US. “The US refused to give me the easy online admission available for Dutch citizens, because, as they explained, I have to apply for a visa in view of the fact that I was born in Iraq”. Baghdad-based artist Ali Eyal couldn’t come to the opening because Iraq is listed on the Trump administration’s travel ban (also known as the “Muslim ban”). Others couldn’t come because they’re in asylum status in other countries, which complicates the possibility of traveling. Over the course of the exhibition, more than 20 films that span both mainstream and independent filmmaking throughout the Gulf War (1991) and the Iraq War (2003-11) are screened in the cinema. The series features films that are rarely shown in the US, many of which were directed and produced by Iraqis, as well as award-winning Hollywood movies. These films complicate mainstream news media narratives around the wars, offering key insights and perspectives while at times presenting misleading or dated depictions. Also included are documentaries that depict the situations American troops faced on the ground as well as those focused on the realities of daily life for Iraqis.

 On show are works by: Sherko Abbas, Ghaith Abdulahad, Afifa Aleiby, Sadik Kwaish Alfraji, Himat M. Ali, Francis Alÿs, Jananne Al-Ani, Rasheed Araeen, Cory Arcangel, Layla Al-Attar, Michel Auder, Dia al-Azzawi, Thuraya AlBaqsami, Wafaa Bilal, Dara Birnbaum, Fernando Botero, Roger Brown, Paul Chan, Sue Coe, Tony Cokes, Susan Crile, Verne Dawson, Deep Dish TV, Melvin Edwards, Ali Eyal, Alia Farid, Harun Farocki, Ismail Fattah, Karen Finley, Rainer Ganahl, Ghassan Ghaib, Tarek AlGhoussein, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Guerrilla Girls, Richard Hamilton, Mona Hatoum, Wally Hedrick, Thomas Hirschhorn, Jenny Holzer, Hiwa K, Mary Kelly, Jon Kessler, Rachel Khedoori, Louise Lawler, An-My Lê, Hanaa Malallah, Susan Meiselas, Robert Morris, JeanLuc Moulène, Mohammed Muhraddin, Steve Mumford, Rafa Nasiri, Mahmoud Obaidi,  Jamal Penjweny, Monira Al Qadiri, Khalifa Qattan, Nuha al-Radi, Michael Rakowitz, Oday Rasheed, Ali Rashid, Miguel Angel Ríos, Kareem Risan, Sophie Ristelhueber, Martha Rosler, Judith Joy Ross, Shakir Hassan, Samir, Allan Sekula, Richard Serra, Delair Shaker, Mohammed Al Shammarey, Urok Shirhan, Sean Snyder, Deborah Stratman, Sturtevant, Elia Suleiman, Ali Talib, Jalal Toufic, Luc Tuymans, Nazar Yahya, Ali Yass, and Ala Younis.

 Info: Curators: Peter Eleey and Ruba Katrib, Assistant Curators: Jocelyn Miller, Assistant Curators: Josephine Graf and Oliver Shultz, MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave, Queens, New York, Duration: 3/11/19-1/3/20, Days & Hours: Mon & Thu-Sun 12:00-18:00, www.moma.org