Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun

by Wafaa Bilal, Kari Lydersen

Wafaa Bilal’s childhood in Iraq was defined by the horrific rule of Saddam Hussein, two wars, a bloody uprising, and time spent interned in chaotic refugee camps in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Bilal eventually made it to the United States to become a professor and a successful artist, but when his brother was killed at a checkpoint in Iraq in 2005, he decided to use his art to confront those in the comfort zone with the realities of life in a conflict zone.

Thus the creation and staging of “Domestic Tension,” an unsettling interactive performance piece: for one month, Bilal lived alone in a prison cell-sized room in the line of fire of a remote-controlled paintball gun and a camera that connected him to Internet viewers around the world. Visitors to the gallery and a virtual audience that grew by the thousands could shoot at him twenty-four hours a day. The project received overwhelming worldwide attention, garnering the praise of the Chicago Tribune, which called it “one of the sharpest works of political art to be seen in a long time,” and Newsweek’s assessment “breath taking.” It spawned provocative online debates, and ultimately, Bilal was awarded the Chicago Tribune’s Artist of the Year Award.

Structured in two parallel narratives, the story of Bilal’s life journey and his “Domestic Tension” experience, this first-person account is supplemented with comments on the history and current political situation in Iraq and the context of “Domestic Tension” within the art world, including interviews with art scholars such as Dean of the School of Art at Columbia University, Carol Becker, who also contributes the introduction. Shoot an Iraqi is equally pertinent reading for those who seek insight into the current conflict in Iraq and for those fascinated by interactive art technologies and the ever-expanding world of online gaming.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Read For School, Middle East, School, Memoir, Biography

177 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Wafaa Bilal, a professor of Photography and Imaging at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, has exhibited his art worldwide and lectured extensively. He has been interviewed on NPR, the BBC, CNN, MSNBC and the History Channel. http://www.wafaabilal.com/

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant.

Wafaa Bilal's story encompasses growing up as an artist under the thumb of an abusive Iraqi father as well as under the thumb of Saddam. Double whammy.

Having survived the Iran-Iraq war as well as the first Gulf War (not as a combatant, but as an art student... a trade that was nearly as life threatening as military service), Bilal made his way to a Kuwaiti refugee camp as the post-war Shia uprising against the Ba'ath Party was crushed in his hometown. Literal flesh-on-the-pavement crushed.

To survive the mind bogglingly horrific conditions in Kuwaiti and Saudi refugee camps, Bilal sticks with his art (not an easy thing to do when surrounded by well-armed religious fundamentalists) and eventually he and one of his brothers managed to immigrate to the United States. In time, Bilal became an art professor in Chicago.

Enter the second Gulf War. Shortly after Bush declared "Mission Accomplished," another of Bilal's brothers is killed by bombs that were guided to their target by a U.S. Predator drone. Bilal's father dies weeks later, so stricken with grief that his body just shuts down.

Meanwhile, back in Chicago, Bilal was walking to coffee shops, going to movies, teaching his classes and taking the war in the same manner that most Americans took the war: with room for cream and a shopping bag.

Feeling so out of touch with his mother and remaining family -- where their every movement took place under someone else's gun -- and feeling such revulsion for the video-game-esque manner of his brother's death, Bilal found a Chicago art gallery owner who was willing to support him in an interactive video-game-esque art installation piece: Shoot an Iraqi. (The name of the project changed to Domestic Tension at the request of the gallery owner -- she didn't want anyone to take it too literally.)

Shoot an Iraqi involved Bilal living in a small, one-room gallery space for one month while remote, online participants were welcome to shoot at him with a paintball gun that could be aimed and fired by anyone with an Internet connection.

I won't even begin to try to describe what comes next. I'll just leave it at this: the art did what I think all art probably tries to do. It made some stop, pause, consider. It made some angry, often inexplicably so. It made some sad. It made some happy. It gave some hope. It made others despair. And in my own case, it did all of the above.

So... If ever you have wished "Gosh, I'd love to read a book about the power of art and how it serves such an important role in keeping everyone away from the throats of everyone else!" well, this is your book. Enjoy.

[Stacy (Gotham City Librarian) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found out about this book through a YouTube video about disturbing performance art, and it sounded like something that would be worth a read. It was an educational and worthwhile experience. Wafaa Bilal alternates between chapters about his art installation entitled “Domestic Tension” and chapters about his life growing up in Iraq. He was constantly subjected to the tyranny of both Saddam Hussein and his own temperamental father. The accounts of the ugliness and horror of survival during war do not hold back, and I learned more about the Iran-Iraq struggles from this book than I ever knew.

Bilal channeled all of this experience into his art and primarily wrote this book about his experience during “Domestic Tension,” which he initially wanted to call “Shoot an Iraqi” but the art gallery wouldn’t go for that. He hooked a paintball gun up to an website and strangers all over the world could “shoot” him at close range for 31 days while remaining anonymous, but there was also a live camera feed and a chatroom. You can probably imagine how the experience went for him, but it’s still a tough read a lot of the time. (He never left that room during this time.)

Luckily, there are positives and negatives when it comes to the public reaction to Bilal’s exhibit, leading to the best and worst sides of humanity showing up. I’m one of the first people to admit that I can’t always take performance art seriously; I’m fascinated by it but it really depends on the performer and the subject matter. In the case of “Domestic Tension” I think Bilal had a solid idea and a successful follow-through. This is a great read. Definitely one of the better nonfiction books I’ve gotten my hands on in a while, though probably not for anyone looking for light-hearted material!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wafaa Bilal grew up under the gun. The Iraq he remembers is one of gunshots, grenades, bombings and constant fear -- of other Muslims, of Sadaam's dictatorship, of invading countries and occupying forces. After fleeing Iraq and eventually studying art in the U.S., Bilal found himself under the gun again, this time self-imposed: in a gallery with a paintball gun and a world of virtual shooters. In this memoir he masterfully weaves together these two stories and forces us to question our own comfort and the far-ranging consequences of pressing a button. This book was powerful and thought-provoking on many levels.

[Mado · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a phenomenal account of a refugee's journey from Iraq to the United States in the time leading up to the 2003 U.S. occupation of the country. The primary story was about a performative art piece that the author created to highlight the chasm between violence and the self, but he weaves in his personal history, giving great insight into Iraqi society and history. Personally, I found this to be the most interesting part of the overall narrative. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about Iraq and the refugee experience.

[Cathy]

I heard this author on NPR. He started the experiement for different reasons than I originally thought but he ended up with similar PTSD to our soldiers. And he did the experiment in his art studio in Chicago.

[valentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a shock after reading this book. I felt ashamed of being an ignorant, living in the comfort zone.

I felt like the world is in a loop where people constantly hating other people just because they have different beliefs or values, and sometimes this hatred would turn into to bloodshed, even worse- war. I’m at awe of how the artist could still believe in humanity even after all he’d been through. Even after the project Domestic Tension, he could still have hope for this world.

[City Lights Booksellers & Publishers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wafaa Bilal’s childhood in Iraq was defined by the horrific rule of Saddam Hussein, two wars, a bloody uprising, and time spent interned in chaotic refugee camps in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Bilal eventually made it to the U.S. to become a professor and a successful artist, but when his brother was killed at a U.S. checkpoint in 2005, he decided to use his art to confront those in the comfort zone with the realities of life in a conflict zone. Thus the creation and staging of “Domestic Tension,” an unsettling interactive performance piece: for one month, Bilal lived alone in a prison cell-sized room in the line of fire of a remote-controlled paintball gun and a camera that connected him to internet viewers around the world. Visitors to the gallery and a virtual audience that grew by the thousands could shoot at him 24 hours a day. The project received overwhelming worldwide attention, garnering the praise of the Chicago Tribune, which called it “one of the sharpest works of political art to be seen in a long time,” and Newsweek’s assessment “breathtaking.” It spawned provocative online debates and ultimately, Bilal was awarded the Chicago Tribune’s Artist of the Year Award.

Structured in two parallel narratives, the story of Bilal’s life journey and of his “Domestic Tension” experience, this first-person account is supplemented with comments on the history and current political situation in Iraq and the context of “Domestic Tension” within the art world, including interviews with art scholars such as Dean of the School of Art at Columbia University, Carol Becker, who also contributes the introduction. Shoot an Iraqi is equally pertinent reading for those who seek insight into the current conflict in Iraq, and for those fascinated by interactive art technologies and the ever-expanding world of online gaming.


Wafaa Bilal, a professor of Art and Technology at the Art Institute of Chicago, has exhibited his art worldwide and lectured extensively. He has been interviewed on NPR, the BBC, CNN, MSNBC and the History Channel.

Praise for Shoot an Iraqi :

“Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun . . . illustrates inspiring possibilities for contemporary art to address key issues facing the world today, a call to action for the art world.”
--Stefan Christoff, Art Threat

Voted one of the Top 10 Arts Books of the Year 2009: "A staggering memoir by immigrant Iraqi artist Bilal, who staged a performance piece, during which online participants used a computer-controlled paintball gun to 'shoot an Iraqi.'"
—Booklist

"Once I picked up this manuscript, I could not put it down. There is something so urgent and compelling about Bilal's story, as though he is speaking to our time. His story is not just for those interested in the arts; it is a human story of the horror, frustration, and tragedies of war."
—Mary Flanagan, artist and author of re:skin (MIT Press)

[e · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t normally include books read for school in my GoodReads, one, because I very rarely read all of them (either because it isn’t required or because I find ways around it/end up skimming/run out of time/etc.), and two, because I tend to relate to them in very different ways. This was a very surprising exception. Interweaving the tale of Bilal’s controversial art project, Domestic Tension—where he lived in a gallery space alongside a internet controlled paintball gun that allowed people to shoot at him, and his earlier life in Iraq, most notably his experience as a refugee, Shoot an Iraqi was incredibly gripping—I read it under three hours, plowing my way through in one sitting.

In under 200 pages, Bilal and Lydersen lay out an incredibly engaging narrative. Playing the book’s two plots off each other, the book manages to offer a glimpse into the psychological effects of war, uncertainty, and senseless violence. This is done not merely through the details of Bilal’s life in a war torn Iraq, but also through his psychological deterioration over the course of his art project. The book also makes effective use of a selected pictures, particularly in terms of its selective use of color. A midst an array of black and white photos, the few color ones, usually dominated by the yellow paint from the gun, are very striking.

In short: Had to read for school, ended up loving it. Anyone interested in war, art, or just a really moving psychological drama should check it out :).

[Cheryl Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the story of Wafaa Bilal, an artist who grew up in Iraq and, for a month following the U.S. invasion of his former home, chose to live in a Chicago art gallery where visitors to his website were invited to aim at him and "shoot an Iraqi" with a paintball gun (not unlike how the U.S. military operates unmanned drones). Expertly interspersed with this narrative is the story of his life in Iraq, which includes encounters with Saddam's oppressive minions and his own oppressive father.

For me, the book put a personal face not only on Iraq and the war there, but on conceptual art, which can seem as distant and confusing as a foreign war. For Bilal, art and survival are almost synonymous. When he builds a mud-brick hut to protect his paintings from sandstorms in a brutal Saudi refugee camp--and when other refugees follow his example by creating art, building huts and eventually creating a working village--I got shamelessly misty-eyed. Sadly, the case for art and against war is one we have to make over and over again, but not many do it better than Bilal.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Living in a war zone or conflict area seems to be taxing on the human psyche and takes us down a notch or two on Maslow's hierarchy. The author fled Iraq in the Gulf War and made it to America after living in horrid conditions in refugee camps in Saudi Arabia for 5 years. Later, in this most recent war, his brother was killed in Iraq by an unmanned drone. The book is a compilation of flashbacks to his time in Iraq juxtaposed with his 30 day art project where he lives in a room with a paint gun controlled by anyone who logs into his website. His project is an attempt to speak out on the notion that war has evolved to a point where a person sitting in Nevada can kill someone and otherwise wreak havoc on countless lives across the world. His experience with the art project reflected the best and worst of what humanity had to offer. Quick and interesting read.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a surprisingly quick, easy read despite the often difficult subject matter. This book has 2 intertwined story lines, one about Wafaa's upbringing in Iraq with an abusive father and all the fears of living in a dictatorship and with constant religious prosecution, and the other about his artwork since moving to the US, particularly the project where he lived for a month in a room with a paintball gun that anyone online could fire at him anytime.

The parts about his upbringing were very interesting to me, but I've had trouble sympathizing with his experiences caused by the art pieces, and trouble understanding his motivations for them. That said, I wouldn't have picked up this book if it was just a biography about his upbringing so I guess the art worked if it made me, and probably many others, read this book.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really 4.5 stars. I sincerely enjoyed and appreciated this. The book covers the story of Wafaa Bilal's "Domestic Tension" 30-day performance art. The text has autobiographical flashbacks to Bilal's childhood and his experience in the turmoil of Iraq through the 80's and 90's, which underline Bilal's intent in conducting his experiment.

The real importance is that it outlines the Iraq wars from a perspective the western world doesn't often receive by the mainstream. It is eye opening, but not unreasonable in its claims. Although provocative, the text covers ideas from both sides and presents a well-rounded view without being sensational. A required text in any studies looking at the modern Middle East tensions.

[Don Rosso · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a powerful book. I know nothing about art, but this book achieves Bilal's artistic goal of making Western readers feel the anxiety of living in an oppressive dictatorship and a war zone. His descriptions of his lived experience through two wars in his native Iraq followed by harrowing refugee camps in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia make it impossible to consider war from a distance again. Reading about being a dissenter and Shia under Saddam's "peaceful" rule left me emotionally exhausted.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Wafaa Bilal's story is amazing - both his life and his interactive art piece "Domestic Tension." A moving story that transcends art (I picked it up for the art) and rapidly moves into an important look at humanity amidst the horrors of war.

Additionally, the New Mexico connection near the end (he first moved to Albuquerque when he arrived in the US and attended the University of New Mexico - my hometown and my alma mater) was unexpected and exciting to read as well.

[Merry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very eye opening account of a young person's struggle while living in Iraq. Chapters alternate between the performance art piece he sets up called "Domestic Tension" that allows people to shoot a paintball gun at him via the computer and accounts of his life in Iraq.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

of course i am biased by my friendship and love for kari, however, this narrative pulls you in with its tireless intellectualism and gently prodding at your own shameful comforts.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall it was a good, easy read which gave me a new outlook on the war. It would have been nice to have additional background on the US embargoes and some of the historical aspects from the US side.

[Smiley Gyrus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wafaa is truly a wonderful man and you should read his book. There's lots to learn and think about in it.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. Preferred the discussion about art to the predictable 'refugee-made-good' storyline.

[Edward ott · Rating 4 out of 5]

really you want to read this book

[Naomi Ayala · Rating 5 out of 5]

A parallel narrative about art and war in Iraq intersects with an account of an action research experiment in the U.S.

[Shay Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great account of this performance art piece in Chicago.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

On my birthday, alone, I decided to visit the museum of contemporary art in Chicago. I had been disappointed by their offerings for years - although a book I read years ago, In Search of a Lost Avant-Garde, has made me much more forgiving to their offerings. I’ve been in marketing - I get it. On this visit, I was amused by Paul Pfeiffer’s career retrospective, but found something else far more captivating by a performance artist named Wafaa Bilal. The hook was his hacked version of a game originally celebrating the assassination of Saddam Hussein, and the line being him surgically installing a camera to the back of his head (which I found somewhat overwrought.) The sinker compromises the subject of this book, which is to my mind both the best piece of net art and performance art that I have ever heard of.

The premise: in May of 2007, Wafaa Bilal entered a gallery space where he would spend the next month being shot at by paintballs virtually to recreate the displaced violence of the war in Iraq. If you’re an American like myself, the air of remoteness always felt distant - for Iraqis like Bilal, the violence could never feel more present. The narrative of this book begins with the artist’s preparations. He secures a gallery space, a website is built, a paintball gun is deployed for his needs, resources are gathered. For those interested in the logistics of making performance art a reality - this book is a must.

But Wafaa’s art goes well beyond mere performance. In 2007, the Internet was in a nascent moment of transition - Facebook had just surpassed MySpace in popularity, and digg.com (a news aggregator) had potency that you just don’t see anymore. Algorithms were not mediating attention nearly to the degree organic traffic flowed. Further, Wafaa’s own history is highly remarkable - as a student in Iraq, his artistic inclinations were stifled by Saddam, who hijacked the country under his own secular intentions. He was unable to pursue his passion for art, instead being relegated to a degree in geology thanks to a dissident family member whose proximity made approaching such a degree impossible. During Operation Desert Storm, the University of Baghdad was bombed, and he fled to Iran both to protect himself and his family.

All of this context coexists with a diary kept throughout his performance titled “Domestic Tension” - although I found his original title, which shares its name with this book, far more provocative. He charts the direction of the chat room, his vlogs, unexpected alliances, the kindnesses of strangers, two weddings in the same gallery venue, and an unexpected hack that renders the paintball gun into a machine gun. Between these brief installments is a memoir of becoming an artist beneath a repressive regime.

If you want my spicy take- the MCA is too large to produce a critique on what is happening in Palestine, but I sense that their decision to reintroduce Domestic Tension to a public audience could not have been more perfectly timed. How do you say something without saying something? Although being able to see the gallery space recreated in front of me along with video of his vlogs genuinely impressed me, getting to read this alongside it has allowed me to engage with Wafaa’s art in a much more meaningful way. If art institutions are burdened with the necessity of the gift shop, this is precisely what they should be armed with.

A few notes that caught my eye: I always consider what the value of art is, and he displays it clearly. His ability to cross mediums allows him to create fake IDs that save his life along with others multiple times. He lives in a refugee camp for years, but this does not take up much space in his account. I was reminded of the repressed cultural response to COVID-19 and before that, the Spanish Flu. If nothing else, I am grateful for the education this book offers on the politics of the region. Palestinians factor into this book in a way that might surprise you, but the cultural parallels between Saddam’s Iraq and Trump’s America are a bit frightening - the piece on education stood out especially. What makes this book especially compelling is the defiant attitude that punctuates it. This entire project’s scope seems opposed to good mental health, yet it is pursued in spite of it. Wafaa makes all manner of ill-advised choices throughout his journey, but he is a young man. As a mental health practitioner, this book highlights one of the most important aspects of the field - that people are in charge of their own destiny. And while it may seem foolish in the moment, things crystallize upon distance.

[Kati]

Disclaimer:
1. I will not be giving this book a star rating, as it is an accounting/memoir of the author's life growing up in Iraq and the art exhibit he created and was a part of at an art gallery in Chicago. If I were to give it a rating it would be for the writing alone, not the actual content. For the writing, I would give this a solid 4 stars. It was well written and kept me engaged (way more than I thought it would -- see #2).
2. This is definitely not a book I would have picked up on my own -- I was required to read this for work. I am a librarian, and our library received a request to remove this book from the shelves. As I am one of the librarians on staff who purchases material, I am automatically on the committee to review such requests.

I will try to remember to come back and add some more thoughts after our committee has met.

Content warnings: some language (not a ton and it's all quotes), descriptions of war and violence.

[Bill Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. A powerful book that should be read. Couldn't put it down.
I had no experience with Mr Bilal's work until a recent visit to the Chicago Museum of Modern Art. I was so intrigued by his work, especially the recreation of the Domestic Tension physical space that I bought the book in the gift shop. I am so grateful that I did.
The book will make you think and force you to drag your mind out of the mundane day-to-day sleepwalking that most of us do. But it is not a downer. There are lots of passages that will make you curse your fellow humans but in the end Mr Bilal demonstrates a basic optimism about the human condition that gives one hope. I hope he is right, but in the meantime there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Thank you Wafaa for doing some heavy lifting.

[Shatha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is captivating, powerful, and vulnerable, with its narration alternating between Wafaa Bilal's life story and his month-long Shoot an Iraqi interactive performance. Bilal gives you an in-depth understanding of where this iconic performance/human experiment originated, and what his practice aims to do, incisively exploring technology, violence, compassion and art. Often hard to read, but somehow, audaciously hopeful.

[Sierra Bookworm☺️♪ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for my Global Perspectives on the US class and I really enjoyed it! I liked that social and political issues in Iraq were explained properly rather than thrown at the reader like some of the other books we read for the class did. Bilal’s narratives, both past and present, were very interesting!

[Willow · Rating 3 out of 5]

The project is provocative and his story was very informative and helped me gain a deeper understanding of the actual lived experience of Iraqis under American aggression. But the book itself kind of just reads like an artist's statement and some of his convictions around the political implications of art come off a bit bourgeois in the context of, like, the high-end galleries he moves through.

[Corey Friedrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was required reading for me. I wouldn't have chosen it on my own. That being said it was okay. The author's experience growing up in Iraq was interesting. Learning about how he defines and creates art was enlightening too though I don't think I'd ever be interested in going to one of his exhibits.

[vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

impactful and well-written!