Scratching on Things I Could Disavow addresses the rapid development of new infrastructure for the visual arts in cities such as Abu-Dhabi, Beirut, Cairo, Doha, Istanbul and Sharjah. In a context where cultural tourism has become an instrument of economic growth and power, Raad’s project considers the ideological, economic and political dimensions of this phenomenon to ask whether culture and tradition in the Arab world may have been affected, materially and immaterially, by the various wars that have been and are still being fought in this volatile region. Walid Raad’s works also draw on Jalal Toufic’s concept of “the withdrawal of tradition after a disaster has been overcome.”
The publication is published on the occasion of the exhibition/performance at TBA21 in Vienna, held in collaboration with Wiener Festochen.
