Wafaa Bilal’s Domestic Tension

[SM1701 independent research]

Name: Paul Isaac Cheung

Student number: 58636300

“Perhaps this one summed it up: 'Some say they are trying to stop the shooting, a lot say they are having a party shooting him. Most are just watching. That. My friend. Is America. Nuff said.”

WAR always begins with violence and destruction to all humanity, yet the purpose of War is peace. The victims are not just the soldiers but the innocent civilians who are just trying to survive and live in harmony. One of the victims was an Iraqi artist who created "Domestic Tension" (which would be the main focus today) - Wafaa Bilal.

[The installation artwork that I am particularly drawn into... ]

Wafaa Bilal was born in Iraq in 1966, around two years before the Ba’ath regime took over. When still at a young age, he grew up idolizing the regime, they were kids and were swept away, of course, but slowly as he grew up, he and everyone else noticed that the government became more and more oppressive. At 18, he had a strong ambition to go to art school, but for political reasons, this was not allowed and he was sent to study geography at the University of Baghdad. The political reasons are the control. The regime especially during the war with Iran had to make sure every field of every candidate was carefully screened, and only 2 fields that are hard to handle are physical education and art. This is why the artist (plus his family’s background in politics) was rejected and sent to study geography. Worst of all, if any of the students failed college, they would be forced into the military, and placed on the front lines of the war with Iran.

In 2007, " Domestic Tension " was made, a networked durational performance, the artist confined himself into a gallery space with a computer and a robotic-controlled paintball gun traced on him. He broadcasted it over the internet 24/7 for a month and had each day of video blog entries of his performance. The interactive design of his performance art is the robotically-controlled paintball gun, the audience was given an option of shooting the artist or just watching or chatting with him.

The intention of this performance art is an effort to highlight the violence and racism of the US culture after the 9/11 tragic events since the US stated that the Iraqis were the murderers who caused that incident. The resentment and hatred towards Iraqis, and this performance raises awareness about the suffering the Iraqis faced over the years since 9/11. Throughout the performance, he shared the trauma of his own experiences under the regime of Saddam Hussein. “Domestic Tension was intended to be a provocative commentary on the nature of modern technological warfare . . ." —Wafaa Bilal. There are over 65,000 paint pellets were fired at him in the course of 30 days.

This performance demonstrated the violence towards the race of a person, determined that the one single person who did certain incidents means the whole race of people, the people that have the same culture, skin or language as that person means evil, bad, and every possible awful, terrible thing towards them. It became racial discrimination, and unfair to innocent people who had no reason to be involved. The Artist's intention fulfilled and raised not just the Americans but all over the world about this serious problem. This performance has lived up to the present time when the internet has become a part of our life where content sensitivity is highly cautious and Wars are rapidly taking place throughout the Middle East and North Africa. People now who have access to all this knowledge and lessons from the past should be better and avoid these unfair, disgusting attitudes and hatred towards one another.

Reference:

Domestic Tension Wafaa Bilal, 2007 (NET ART ANTHOLOGY)

https://anthology.rhizome.org/domestic-tension