Michael Rakowitz: Nimrud

Michael Rakowitz

ISBN 10: 163681025X / ISBN 13: 9781636810256

Published by Distributed Art Publishers, US, 2022

About this Item

On a sculptural recreation of a room from an ancient Iraqi palace, in the wake of lootings by Western archaeologists and ISISPublished with Wellin Museum of Art.Using Arab-language newspapers and wrappers from food products imported from the Middle East, Iraqi American artist Michael Rakowitz (born 1973) has recreated to scale Room H from the Northwest Palace of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud (Kalhu). Part of a reception suite, Room H was originally lined with seven-foot-tall carved stone reliefs, including an inscription detailing Ashurnasirpal II's achievements and winged male figures, many of which have been removed by Western archaeologists over the last 150 years. Here, Rakowitz has "reappeared" only those panels that were in situ in Room H when the remains of the palace were destroyed by the jihadist group the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2015. Areas from which the reliefs had already been removed by 19th-century archaeologists are left blank, resulting in what Rakowitz calls "a palimpsest of different moments of removal.".

Seller Inventory # LU-9781636810256

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Michael Rakowitz: Nimrud
• Publisher: Distributed Art Publishers, US
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 163681025X
• ISBN 13: 9781636810256
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

On a sculptural recreation of a room from an ancient Iraqi palace, in the wake of lootings by Western archaeologists and ISIS

Published with Wellin Museum of Art.

Using Arab-language newspapers and wrappers from food products imported from the Middle East, Iraqi American artist Michael Rakowitz (born 1973) has recreated to scale Room H from the Northwest Palace of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud (Kalhu). Part of a reception suite, Room H was originally lined with seven-foot-tall carved stone reliefs, including an inscription detailing Ashurnasirpal II's achievements and winged male figures, many of which have been removed by Western archaeologists over the last 150 years. Here, Rakowitz has “reappeared” only those panels that were in situ in Room H when the remains of the palace were destroyed by the jihadist group the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2015. Areas from which the reliefs had already been removed by 19th-century archaeologists are left blank, resulting in what Rakowitz calls “a palimpsest of different moments of removal.”