Michael Rakowitz. Recent Projects on Baghdad and Montreal

PRESS RELEASE – 27 April 2009

For immediate distribution

Michael Rakowitz. Recent Projects on Baghdad and Montreal

13 May to 20 June, 2009

The SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art presents Michael Rakowitz: Recent Projects on Baghdad and Montreal from 13 May to 20 June, 2009. The exhibition draws a parallel between the two cities through a stylized representation of cultural artifacts. The opening, which Michael Rakowitz will attend, is scheduled for Wednesday, 13 May at 5 p.m. A catalogue accompanying the exhibition will be launched at the opening.

The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist (2007 - ) presents reproductions of objects looted from the Iraq Museum in 2003. At once political and social, the work builds on the rich if often forgotten Iraqi culture and underscores the brutal effects of American politics. In casting a critical eye on the trafficking of these artifacts the work opens a dialogue on how they are regarded by the Western world. Jean Gagnon, curator of the exhibition, explains that the work “tells a story of war, globalized trade, and the annihilation of a collective memory.” 

As a complement to the exhibition, the artist will also present a series of drawings, many of which make reference to the architecture and history of Montreal: the Olympic Stadium, the American Pavilion at Expo 67—a geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller—and the FLQ. With this series of drawings, entitled Endgames (2006), Rakowitz offers Montrealers a sometimes wryly humorous glimpse of our history and architectural environment.

Born in Great Neck, NY, in 1973, Rakowitz now makes his home in Chicago. His works have been presented in numerous museums and international exhibitions, notably the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Modern Art Oxford in the U.K., Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, Castillo di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea in Italy, the international biennials in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and Istanbul in 2007, and the Sydney Biennial in 2008.

On Saturday, 16 May at 3 p.m., the public is invited to the SBC Gallery for a conversation between Rakowitz and journalist Hugh Eakin, senior editor at the New York Review of Books and a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Admission is free.

The SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art thanks the Phyllis Lambert Foundation, the Stephen R. Bronfman Foundation, and its many benefactors.​

SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art, 372 St. Catherine St. W., Suite 507, Montreal.

www.sbcgallery.ca. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 12 to 5 p.m.

Contact : Anne-Marie Belley | 514.861.9992