Michael Rakowitz: The Artist as an Artivist. The artistic practice on the protection of art and cultural heritage

Abstract

The dissertation aims to investigate the role of the American artist of Iraqi Jewish descent Michael Rakowitz (Great Neck, NY, 1973) in activating a cultural and social change on the protection of art and cultural heritage through his artistic practice. The study examines a selection of Rakowitz’s artworks in which the theme of the dispersion or destruction of art and cultural heritage is addressed: the project The invisible enemy should not exist (2007-ongoing) which also includes the works May the arrogant not prevail (2010), Rooms of Northwest Palace of Nimrud (2017-ongoing), and Lamassu (2018); the installation What Dust Will Rise? (2012); and the video The Ballad of Special Ops Cody (2017). In these works, that Rakowitz describes as “projects of reappearing”, images of lost ancient artifacts, monuments or books, reappear with a new materiality, raising awareness about events of iconoclasm, libricide, looting as well as the trauma experienced by people who survived to them. His works offer also the opportunity to question the colonial structures of power that persist in the disciplines of art history, archaeology and museology. They promote indeed a reflection on the relationship between provenance and expropriation, questioning the complicity of western cultural institutions and audiences influenced by geopolitical matters. The dissertation includes an interview with the artist which constitutes an original document for the study of the work of Rakowitz.