In 1977, the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl organised an expedition called the ‘Tigris’ to build and sail an ancient-style reed boat down the Tigris River in Iraq, out into the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, and across the Arabian Sea. Among the crew of Heyerdahl’s ‘Tigris’ was a young Iraqi artist named Rashad Selim.
Selim’s time aboard the ‘Tigris’ and subsequent work provides the starting point for this new publication, which brings together a range of artists and thinkers who are developing new frameworks for understanding the region traversed by the Tigris River. The volume also reflects on the global relevance of contemporary Iraq, a country which – as Selim has written – maps out the worst political, social, and environmental fears that threaten us and our planet. Pelin Tan traces the recent histories of political and ecological violence along the Tigris; Rijin Sahakian examines the enduring effects of the American wars in Iraq; Mike Sperlinger examines Heyerdahl’s original expedition as a snapshot of the region in the late 1970s; Simon Starling and Juan Carlos Arratia Esteban explore craft and cultural exchange through Starling's project Houseboat for Ho; Dilip Menon discusses ‘oceanic cosmopolitanism’ and the politics of nostalgia in the return to ancient traditions; and Nora Al-Badri and Zoya Masoud consider technology’s role in recovering and reimagining Mesopotamian cultural heritage.
Editors: Rana Issa and Mike Sperlinger
Contributions by: Nora Al-Badri, Sargon Boulus, Juan Carlos Arratia Esteban, Maria Catalina Heitmann, Rana Issa, Hannah Lewis, Zoya Masoud, Dilip Menon, Rijin Sahakian, Rashad Selim, Mike Sperlinger, Simon Starling & Pelin Tan.
Design by Marwan Kaabour
Published by OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway and Archive Books
