Walid Raad

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*Footnote II*

Walid Raad. Footnote II. 2015

Walid Raad. Footnote II. 2015. Wallpaper, inkjet prints, object in clear-cast urethane resin, white pigment dye, overall dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York

Walid Raad: I spent about two years as an artist in residence in the Louvre in Paris just as the Louvre was ready to open its new Department of Islamic Art.

The building of the new wing for Islamic arts in Paris in the Louvre was paralleled by the building of a new Louvre in Abu Dhabi. The Department of Islamic Arts in Paris has about 18,000 objects. Of those, about 300 were being lent to Abu Dhabi. The objects are selected, crated, and they're shipped. When they arrive in Abu Dhabi, the crates are opened. And the people who open the crates are surprised to see that the objects that are in the crates are not the ones that left Paris.

Now, if you've read the story, you're clear to the fact that most of the objects on their way from Paris to Abu Dhabi decided to trade skins with each other. Why? I don't know. This is what resulted in the unusual object that is displayed on the black and white images. It's the object as it traded skin with another. What is the appropriate display case for such an object? It is clear to me that the available walls, display cases, and captions will not do, and new ones need to be produced. And this is my attempt to produce them.

Narrator: To hear more about this work, go to the keypad and press 2810.