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Photography & Imaging

Courses

Fall 2009: P&I Digital, Expanding Digital Possibilities, P&I Multimedia

Education

Bachelor level course work in Geography and Geology, University of Baghdad, 1985-90
B.F.A., Art Studio, The University of New Mexico, 1999
M.F.A., Art and Technology, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2003

Biography

Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal, has been widely recognized for his interactive and dynamic internet encounters, connecting the virtual to the physical platform. He has exhibited his art world wide, and traveled and lectured extensively to inform audiences of the situation of the Iraqi people and the importance of peaceful conflict resolution. Bilal's dynamic installation Domestic Tension placed him in front of a paintball gun which people could shoot at him over the internet, 24 hours a day. The month-long piece spurred online debates and intense conversations, garnering the praise of the Chicago Tribune, which called it "one of the sharpest works of political art to be seen in a long time" and named him Artist of the Year in 2007. Newsweek called it "breathtaking."
But it is the resulting dialogue that Bilal seeks, as an artist who feels he does not have the privilege to create work that is not political. In the face of a war that stretches on, the 2004 deaths of his brother and father, and the violence in his own history, Bilal seeks to imbue his audiences with a sense of empowerment that comes from hope in the enduring potential of humanity. In 2008, Bilal’s controversial video game piece “Virtual Jihadi” was censored by the city of Troy, New York and Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute. In the wake of these incidents, Bilal was named one of the year’s “15 Most Politically Fascinating People of 2008” by the online magazine GamePolitics.com.  In fall 2008, City Lights published "Shoot an Iraqi: Life, Art and Resistance Under the Gun," about Bilal's life and the Domestic Tension project.