Kuwait | Wartist

Catalyst: Contemporary Art and War (Imperial War Museum North, Manchester)

From 12 October 2013 until 23 February 2014, the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester presents the exhibition “Catalyst: Contemporary Art and War”, containing works of more than 40 contemporary artists about war in our time. The IWM’s huge and diverse collection could provide all the more than 70 works that have been made sinde the Gulf War of 1990/91. Among others, Steve McQueen, Frauke Eigen, Paul Seawright, Rasheed Araeen and Willie Doherty take part in this exhibition.

© kennardphillipps, Photo Op, IWM ART 17541 (pigment print)

Steve McCurry: In the Flow of Time (Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg)

From 19 January until 16 June 2013, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg shows the exhibition “In the Flow of Time – Photographs from Asia 1980-2011” with pictures by Steve McCurry. Thus, the colourful work by the US photographer (* 1950) will be presented in Germany for the very first time. The exhibition consists of 115 images by the Magnum photographer from countries such as Afghanistan, India, Cambodia, Kuwait, China or Nepal: “I see it was the vibrant colour of Asia that taught me to see and write in light”. While quite many of his photos appear to be arranged, he refuses this method and solely takes photos of moments happening, on which the exhibition’s title is referring to.

Ahmadi Oil Fields, Kuwait, 1991

Camels and oil fire, Kuwait, 1991

Sandwiched between blackened sand and sky, camels search for untainted shrubs and water in the burning oil fields of southern Kuwait. Their desperate foraging reflects the environmental plight of a region ravaged by the gulf war. Canby, Thomas Y. (August 1991)

"The first Gulf War taught us a new lesson in unconventional conflict. Saddam Hussain's army filled the skies of southern Kuwait with black poignant smoke from the burning oil lines. It was a powerful, debilitating symbol. And there was another. McCurry, who was covering the war, saw camels running in terror from the fires. Both images -whether of the fires or of the animals- were powerful representations of the chaos of that time. Central to McCurry's reputation as a journalist is his discipline to wait, and to search, and then to recognize the most telling image. The juxtaposition of the fire and smoke and camels running amok creates an icon of that war." - Phaidon 55

National Geographic, Vol. 180, No. 2, pgs. 2-3, August 1991, The Persian Gulf: After the Storm

Phaidon, 55, Iconic Images, final book_iconic, final print_milan, iconic photographs

As his army retreated from Kuwait, Saddam Hussein ordered the ignition of the oil fields that scatter the country. The effect was an ecological disaster of unimaginable scale. These camels are running from the fires. It is a futile effort: soon they will covered in oil that rails down from the sky.

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Kuwait bans the Use of Digital SLR Cameras…Not!

A few days ago we reported on the alleged ban of the public use of digital single-lens reflex cameras (SLR) by the emirate of Kuwait. As we now know, the information by the newspaper Kuwait Times proved to be wrong – luckily.

Thus, there is neither a ban, nor an art event by Kurt Buchwald. Continue reading “Kuwait bans the Use of Digital SLR Cameras…Not!”

Kuwait Bans the Use of Digital SLR Cameras in the Public

As reported by the newspaper Kuwait Times (under reference to an edict by the three Ministries of Information, Social Affairs and Labour and Finances), the emirate of Kuwait has banned the public use of digital single-lens reflex cameras (SLR). Journalists are allegedly exempt from this ban.

One feels remembered to the art performance “Fotografieren verboten!” (No Pictures!) by the German photographer Kurt Buchwald from the years 1988 to 2004: in 1988, on the occasion of the 150th birthday of photography, he erected prohibition signs at worldwide viewpoints and places of interest to limit the inflationary taking of pictures. This picture of the Atacama desert in Chile has been made in 1995.

Fotografieren verboten! Atacama Wüste, Chile, 1995 (© Kurt Buchwald)