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Letter to a Refusing Pilot
Letter to a Refusing Pilot
Letter to a Refusing Pilot

Letter to a Refusing Pilot

Artist (Libanon, född 1966)
Alternate Title
  • Brev till en vägrande pilot
Date2013
MediumDigital video, color, stereo sound and 16mm film, color, silent, cinema chair, wooden seats, brochures, LED light strips
DimensionsVarierande mått Letter to a Refusing Pilot : 34 min Saida June 6, 1982 : 1:20 min
Credit LinePurchase 2015
Countries
Object NumberMOM/2015/10
The artwork is not on display
About the artwork This video by Akram Zaatari in the collection of Moderna Museets recalls an event he would often hear recounted as a young person, about an Israeli fighter pilot who was ordered to bomb a Lebanese target. The pilot, who was also an architect, said that the building in question had to be to either a hospital or a school, turned his plane around and dropped his bombs over the sea. The story would gradually take on mythical proportions, and the work is dedicated to the soldier who refused to carry out the bombing raid.

 

Akram Zaatari was shown at Unfolding at Moderna Museet in 2015, a one-man show that can be likened to a series of excavations in the city of Saida, south of Beirut, where the artist was born and raised. He is interested in the subjective telling of history, the material for which is made up of photographic records, letters, diaries, films and sound recordings. Zaatari employs not only the stories that are provided by these materials but also works with the media and communication channels involved.

 

Abram Zaatari has played a crucial role in the growth of the intellectual and institutional infrastructure of Beirut’s contemporary art scene. He was one of a handful of young artists to emerge from an experimental period in Lebanon’s television industry, which changed fundamentally after the civil war. As one of the founders of the Arab Image Foundation, an artist-run organisation devoted to researching and studying photography in the region, Akram Zataari has contributed to a broader debate about how to preserve and archive this material.

 

Akram Zaatari took part in documenta 13 in 2012 and represented Lebanon at the Venice Biennale in 2013.


Selected exhibition history Akram Zaatari - Letter to a Refusing Pilot (den 26 maj 2018 - den 30 september 2018) Moderna Museet Malmö Akram Zaatari - Unfolding (den 7 mars 2015 - den 16 augusti 2015) Moderna Museet, Stockholm The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues Akram Zaarari : Unfolding : [Moderna Museet Stockholm 7/3-16/8 2015]