Michael Rakowitz | (G)Hosting

As part of his series The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist, Iraqi-American conceptual artist Michael Rakowitz collaborated with the OI Museum during our centennial year to create a reappearance of a relief from the northwest palace at Nimrud, which was destroyed by Isis in 2015. In this powerful lecture, Rakowitz explores the impact that artifact looting, destruction, and displaying have on cultural identity, while examining the dynamics we encounter as we interact with the art of earlier civilizations.
Michael Rakowitz: (G)Hosting
This lecture continues our Contemporary Artist/Ancient Voices series, a set of conversations with artists who draw inspiration from the ancient Middle East.
This is a recording of a live at-home OI lecture that took place on May 5, 2021.
Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: bit.ly/2AWGgF7​
Thank you for watching! This lecture series is part of our ongoing online programming which is available to all for free and funded by our annual members and supporters. On April 21-22 we will celebrate Giving Day and raise funds for the OI Community Fund which provides essential support for our ongoing research, education, and outreach efforts! Save the Date to join us on Giving Day and consider making a contribution to help the OI enter its second century of research and discovery with momentum!
2021, OI
Images: Michael Rakowitz
Music credit: bensound.com

[@iirainey]

Thank you for posting this, it was a beautiful lecture.

[@perlefisker]

What a powerful and beautiful lecture! Thank you for sharing!

[@ahmedema3389]

My heart was being crushed watching this I teared in the end What happened in the museum in 2003 and what isis did in 2015 was a crime that can't be measured And (as an iraqi) after watching the videos of isis destroying artifacts and destroying the city of nineveh in 2015 i said to myself "wouldn't these ancient artifacts be better off preserved in a museum in a safe country than watching it being looted and destroyed by someone" The greed of iraqi people who looted the museum in 03 and the stupidity and extremism of isis in 15 is disquieting

[@joannmace8499]

love your work!!

[@deathdoor]

This channel is killing since the pandemic started!

[@MrYerathrall]

Spectacular work Michael 👏 i hope they accept your proposal! Please update us when you receive their answer! So you think the Gucci bags held date pollen? Hmmm. 🤔

[@lambastepirate]

I have a problem with modern day people judging people of the past by modern day rules. In America the Indians fought each other for land so the white man taking thair land was not unexpected. I am of American Indian and northern European decent. I have no problem with what was done war is brutal.

[@Johnny_Tambourine]

The people living in these areas today are not the same people that lived in the area 5000 years ago. The cultural appropriation is thick in this video. And the condescension is dripping. Today, the descendants of those ancient Assyrians are a minority in their ancestral homelands. And most (70%) don't even live in those lands anymore. Surprise! There are Assyrians LIVING today! But they are persecuted as a minority. Most people living in Iraq today have no connection to Assyria other than geography. It is the descendants of the original Assyrians that keep their traditions alive today, which is far more than anyone else has done besides tourism. So how about we return these Assyrian artifacts to the real Assyrians and not the people that happen to be living in their ancient homeland?