Established in 1999, The Atlas Group has partaken in significant international exhibitions such as Documenta 11 and the Whitney Biennial 2002, resulting in the exposure of some of its works to a broader audience. Within the ever-changing dynamics of the Atlas Group collective, Walid Raad (born in 1967 in Chbanieh, Lebanon), the project’s founder, has crafted a body of intricate works characterized by an abstracting and simplifying aesthetic. These works evoke multi-layered inquiries into themes like experience and memory, authenticity and authorship, and the manner in which history can be represented.
The Atlas Group aimed to document and investigate Lebanon’s present and history, specifically the years encompassing the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990/91). Consequently, the project’s theme invariably delves into the ongoing impact of individual and collective experiences that construct history. The archive curated by The Atlas Group comprises not only found materials but also intentionally fabricated photographic, audiovisual, and written “documents” reflecting everyday life in Lebanon.
The assortment of photographs presents a curated selection from eight series, supplemented by five video works. Each of these “documents” is accompanied by archive entries that purportedly shed light on their origin, creation process, and inclusion in the archive. For instance, the notebooks, photographs, and 8-mm films sourced from the estate of the (fictional) Lebanese historian, Dr. Fadl Fakhouri, have found their way into the archive. The film “Miraculous Beginnings” captures Dr. Fakhouri’s wanderings through Beirut, where he took photographs whenever he believed the civil war had concluded. As the Lebanese civil war was marked by ceasefires and resurgent battles between armies and militias, the film bears witness to the enduring hope for peace and normality, along with the desire to immortalize these hopeful moments through imagery, all while being aware of their transient nature. Similarly, the film “No, illness is neither here nor there” poetically conveys a sense of everyday life during the war, underscored by violence. It rapidly montage an array of advertising signs for surgeons, psychiatrists, and orthopedic specialists – professions that seemingly thrived during wartime.
While much of the archive’s content appears to have a personal character, the 100 black-and-white photographs from the series “My neck is thinner than a hair: Engines” originate from Beirut documentation centers. They depict engines ripped out of vehicles, which transformed into weapons during the civil war. Following the detonation of car bombs, only the engines remained intact as visible remnants – isolated (and thus abstract) evidence of potent explosions. Although the pictorial and textual materials in the Atlas Group Archive predominantly revolve around the civil war era, violence and terror are never explicitly illustrated; instead, they remain “absent” yet ever-present as forces that profoundly shape daily life. The consequences of the unimaginable cruelties endured during the civil war manifest in distorted, “perverted” behavioral patterns, exemplified by the “race” among war correspondents to be the first to locate and photograph engines catapulted hundreds of meters from car bomb sites.
Another photographic work from the “Fakhouri File” similarly unveils twisted modes of perception and depiction. “Notebook volume 72: Missing Lebanese Wars” portrays the Sunday outings to horse races by Lebanese historians with diverse religious and political beliefs. Instead of wagering on the winning horse, they bet on the time difference between the winner crossing the finish line and the moment captured in a photograph by the racetrack photographer. The victor is the one who most accurately predicts the temporal gap – the photographer’s “mistake.” This work centers on historians’ professional responsibilities – the “experts” tasked with determining and representing history – and highlights the expressive potency of photographic images along with their susceptibility to manipulation by historians (some of whom bribe photographers!). Its title also encompasses various meanings of the word “missing” – a shortfall, absence, and longing – solidifying its status as a pivotal work within The Atlas Group.
The video “Hostage: The Bachar Tapes (#17 and #31)_English version” explicitly references political history. At its core is the (fictional) Lebanese hostage Souheil Bachar, who shares his account of three months spent as a hostage alongside five Americans. Their captivity and subsequent release in the mid-1980s were partially linked to high-level political events like the Iran-Contra Affair. Their stories are familiar due to Western media coverage and the books they authored post-captivity. However, “Hostage” aims to uncover the “blind spot” of a Western-dominated media narrative. In the series “We decided to let them say, ‘we are convinced,’ twice,” viewers encounter images of the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982.
