Preface to the seventeenth Edition

Walid Raad, Preface to the seventeenth edition, 2020, Wood, paint, metal, 348 x 263 x 100 cm, Unique, Exhibition view Sfeir-Semler Gallery Hamburg 2020

Preface to the seventeenth edition, 2020

In 1975, at the beginning of the wars, most public monuments in Beirut were hastily disassembled and stored in unmarked crates. The crates were dispersed to various secure storage sites.

Thirty years later, the crates were gathered and opened in the hope of re-assembling the monuments. However, the lack of a break- down and re-assembly protocol resulted in the odd composition of new public works, one of which is on display here.