You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Related News’ category.
WAFAA BILAL WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AT UMASS BOSTON 11/18
Due to a crisis with his 3rdi project, that opens in Doha (Qatar) in a few weeks, Wafaa Bilal will not be able to make his presentation today at UMass. We will let you know when we are able to reschedule in the Spring.
On November 18th, at 4:00 pm, Iraqi born artist Wafaa Bilal will speak at UMass Boston. 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.
-
- Domestic Tension
-
- Ashes
-
- …and Counting
Bilal’s 2007 dynamic installation Domestic Tension placed him on the receiving end of a paintball gun that was accessible online to a worldwide audience, 24 hours a day. Newsweek called the project breathtaking and the Chicago Tribune called the month-long piece one of the sharpest works of political art to be seen in a long time, and named Bilal its 2007 Artist of the Year. Recent work includes Ashes, a series of five large-format color photos taken of dioramas incorporating human ashes, that reproduce scenes of a bombed Iraq. In his last performance, …and Counting, Bilal turned his own body into a canvas, his back tattooed with a borderless map of Iraq covered with one dot for each Iraqi and American casualty. During the performance people from all walks of life read off the names of the dead.
Please join us for his presentation on November 18th at 4:00 pm:
UMass Boston (directions), Campus Center, 3rd Floor, Room 3540
A project of The National Veterans Art Museum
The distance is great.
The disconnect is great.
The impact is deep.
“The occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan have and will continue to leave deep scars in our hearts and minds; and for some of us these scars are emblazoned on our physical bodies and memories. Too often these occupations are swept from our conscience, into the alleys of our streets, into the corners of our city and our collective minds. If they are ever to come to end, their myriad effects must be recognized, unearthed, uncovered, demystified , and exposed!”
- Full program
TODAY – Thursday 4/22/10
11:30-1:30 PM
UMass Boston Campus Center
This forum will bring together two communities affected by the war in Iraq, to share stories, experiences and perspectives on the war. Read an interview with organizer Mathew Seto here: [Writing and community: an interview with Matthew Seto -- conducted with Sơn Ca Lâm] http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=382742202033
This Gallery Talk is part of the program around the installation …OUT OF HERE: The Veterans Project by Krzysztof Wodiczko. 
Under the title Understanding War, Kevin Bowen will speak. He is a poet, Vietnam veteran, and Director of the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at UMass, Boston. Learn about the Joiner Center’s many initiatives and the impact they have already had on our understanding of war and conflict. We recommend viewing “…OUT OF HERE: The Veterans Project” before the program. Tickets: Free with admission to the ICA Boston.
Interview with Hassan Juma’a, President, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, and Falah Alwan, President, Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq.
Click to watch
Juma’a and Alwan talk about the labor movement in Iraq, and their individual work with Iraqi unions. They go on to talk about what Americans need to understand about the situation in Iraq. Finally they describe some of their personal experiences of the US military operations there. The interview took place during Iraqi Labor Tour: Unplugged, September 19th 2009 – an event sponsored by US Labor Against the War, Iraq Veterans Against the War, New York University Law Students for Human Rights Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project, New York University Middle Eastern Law Students Association and United for Peace and Justice.
Last month I had the unusual opportunity to interview two Iraqi labor leaders, who were in the United States to attend the AFL/CIO convention. This interview came about because the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston put Krzysztof Wodizcko in touch with me, as he was preparing the Veterans Project, commissioned by the ICA. I assumed Krzysztof was interested in having me help him get in touch with veterans I knew from the Odysseus Project. But instead Krzysztof asked me if I knew any Iraqis. Other than one person – I didn’t, but I offered to contact some people I knew had worked with Iraqis and Afghans for their art and film projects. Around that time, I got an email from Aaron Hughes, an artist in the Odysseus Project exhibition and IVAW member, who was helping to organize the tour of Iraqi labor leaders with US Labor Against the War. They were looking for volunteers and I offered to help out if they could use me. I told Aaron about Krysztof’s project, and asked him if he thought the Iraqis would mind talking to me about some of their experiences. He graciously arranged time for an interview in NY, so I headed down to meet them.
I was unsure whether these Iraqi labor leaders would want to talk to me about an art project, but they were very generous and shared stories about their work with unions, as well as personal experiences of the war in Iraq. Apologies for the poor quality. I was especially reminded of the importance of hearing directly about the situation in Iraq when reading an article in last week’s New Yorker: “You can fight someone you don’t know, but you can’t make peace with him.” – Omar Shaban, quoted in Letter from Gaza, Captives (Lawrence Wright, the New Yorker, November 9, 2009).
{I will share my notes from this interview soon. I also want to add that this is part of the inspiration for a possible new direction for the Odysseus Project: an art exhibit and cultural exchange with Iraqi and Afghan artists – both civilians living within those countries, and from the Diasporas.}
How do poets deal with the subject of war? Does a successful war poem depend on personal experience, or can imagination and empathy suffice? What’s accomplished by writing about war today? This reading by poets who’ve experienced war first hand, and non-combatants who care deeply about the consequences of war, will address these questions. The context is obvious, but the words may surprise you, and compel you to look at war in a new light. This reading is sponsored by the new literary magazine, CONSEQUENCE, which focuses on the culture of war.
Readers include 
Martha Collins, Tom Sheehan, Dorothy Nelson, and Preston Hood. Poet and translator Kevin Bowen will present this year’s CONSEQUENCE prize in poetry for the best poem addressing the culture and consequence of war.
Saturday, October 17, 2009 from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM at X/O Studio, 256 Market Street, Lowell, MA. This event is free.
The reading is hosted by the 2009 Massachusetts Poetry Festival (Oct. 15 – 18).
Coming Home is an online investigative series on Salon.com about U.S. Army troops who have returned from Iraq. Journalists Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna have looked into inadequate medical care and preventable deaths among returned soldiers.
In one group of Coming Home stories, Benjamin and de Yoanna reviewed more than two dozen incidents of suicide, suicide attempts, prescription drug overdoses and murder involving troops at Fort Carson, Colorado. They learned that much of the violence could have been avoided if the Army did a better job of recognizing and treating the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
At recording booths across America, everyday people interview one another about their lives. StoryCorps creator Dave Isay showcases these first-person stories in a weekly podcast. StoryCorps airs Fridays on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Two of the more recent stories are about soldiers who fought in Iraq:
