Michael Rakowitz
* 1973 Great Neck, NY, USA.
The invisible enemy should not exist. 2007
Wooden table, artifacts constructed from Middle Eastern food packaging and newspaper, labels, drawings, sound
About the work
The invisible enemy should not exist is an attempt to reconstruct the artifacts looted from the National Museum of Iraq in the aftermath of the American invasion in April 2003. The exhibition takes its name from the direct translation of "Aj-ibur-shapu", the ancient Babylonian street that ran through the Ishtar Gate, the display table takes its shape from that of the Processional Way. Alluding to the implied invisibility of these artifacts, the reconstructions are made from the packaging of Middle Eastern foodstuffs and Arabic-American newspapers, moments of cultural visibility found in cities across the United States. The objects were created together with a team of assistants using the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute database and Interpol's website. This version of the project represents the second stage of an ongoing commitment to recuperate the over 7,000 objects that remain missing to date. 70 artifacts have been replicated to scale.
Installed in the Sharjah Art Museum, which is located only 800 miles away from the National Museum or Iraq, The invisible enemy sheds light on the erosion of humanity and cultural heritage due to greed, capitalism and misguided conquest. The cultural genocide implicit in the looting of the museum and archaeological sites parallels the ecological and human disaster that accompany war.
© From the catalogue of Sharjah Biennial 8, 2007.
See also:
The invisible enemy should not exist
Article about the work, presented in Sharjah and Berlin. Text by Gauthier Lesturgie and photos. In: Nafas Art Magazine, 2016
© Photos: Haupt & Binder, Universes in Universe
Teil 2 der Fototour durch die Sharjah Biennale 8, 4. April - 4. Juni 2007. Direktorin der Biennale: Hoor Al Qasimi. Künstlerischer Leiter: Jack Persekian. Kuratoren: Mohammed Kazem, Eva Scharrer, Jonathan Watkins. 79 Beteiligte.