Gallery Activation: Wafaa Bilal's "168:01"
New Orleans Museum of Art 1 Collins C. Diboll Circle, New Orleans, Louisiana 70124
Image courtesy of the artist, Photograph by John Dean © Wafaa Bilal
Artist Wafaa Bilal will visit NOMA to interpret his interactive installation "168:01" in the exhibition Bodies of Knowledge. The work comprises a large bookshelf filled with blank, white books which symbolizes the burning and looting of libraries in Baghdad during the 2003 American invasion of Iraq. Museum visitors are invited to transform the shelves from austere white to color by donating a book that will be shipped to the College of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad at the closing of the exhibition. In exchange for a new book (for sale in the Museum Shop) visitors may take home one of the white volumes, which are meant to serve as a reminder that across the globe many people are denied equal access to knowledge. 1 pm–3 pm.
Wednesday admission is free to all Louisiana residents courtesy of The Helis Foundation. Learn more about Bodies of Knowledge and its other artist installations at noma.org.