Wafaa Bilal Lecture Question/Response.

Questions:

1)With your last project "...and Counting" you chose to do a real life performance piece as opposed to a digital piece. Was this more fulfilling and if so why?

2)Most of your video installations revolve around viewer interaction with the piece why is this so important to you?

Response:

Three words for the artist:
Political, Performance, Persecution.

I really enjoyed Wafaa Bilal's lecture. He is the first artist I have heard speak that has had such a strong political aspect to their work. It was interesting to see an entire body of work that was so extremely focused. I think that one of the best things that he said during his lecture was that he strives as an artist to be an "initiator as opposed to an imposer." I really took that to heart as a great approach, especially because his subject matter has the potential to be so polarizing.

Interesting fact about the artist:
Despite his artwork being so serious he has a great sense of humor, I.E. the joke about The Night of Bush Capturing being an Al Qaeda porno.

Original Questions:

1) Based on his lecture I don't know that one is more fulfilling than the other but he did say that he doesn't predetermine the medium he is working in. Rather he tailors the medium or delivery method to each specific project.

2) During the lecture he did speak directly to this point by saying that "the use of virtual or digital mediums allows him access or the ability to reach people in their Comfort Zone and bring the issue there. As well as being a way to just engage with people outside of a gallery space."

Most Engaging Piece:

I think that "Domestic Tension" was probably the piece that I was most interested in. It seems like such a simple thing and like it wouldn't be that bad, but after seeing the video and hearing him talk about the experience it was extremely powerful. The fact that he developed his own version of PTSD after only thirty days in that enviroment is extremely compelling. It made me think about what it must be like for the people and families in any war situation that have to live through it without even a glimmer of hope as to when it will end.

One thing I can't wait to find out is what his next project will be, he seemed fairly certain that it was going to cause a ruckus whatever it is.