Performing Change: An Artist Talk with Wafaa Bilal

In this year’s Yadgar Lecture, artist Wafaa Bilal traces his multidisciplinary practice at the intersection of performance, political critique, and cultural memory. Drawing from pivotal works such as Domestic Tension, The Things I Could Tell..., and 168:01, Bilal reflects on the evolving role of the artist in contexts marked by war, displacement, and cultural erasure. 

Through interactive and participatory interventions, Bilal challenges dominant narratives of spectatorship and authorship, positioning the body—both his own and those of his audience—as a site of vulnerability, resistance, and relational encounter. His work navigates the tensions between visibility and violence, trauma and technology, remembrance and reconstruction. Set against the broader frameworks of post-conflict aesthetics and media activism, and in dialogue with his survey exhibition Indulge Me (February 1–October 19, 2025) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, this lecture examines how artistic practice can become a generative methodology for reimagining public discourse, reclaiming cultural agency, and confronting the uneven geographies of grief and repair. 

Lecture is free and open to the public; no registration required. Presented by the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Critical Support is provided by the Yadgar Family Endowment, Bowdoin College. 

Bowdoin College is committed to providing an accessible and welcoming environment. Please contact the Events Office (events@bowdoin.edu or 207-725-3433) with any questions regarding the accessibility of this event and/or to request accommodations. Please note: some accommodations require advance notice and may require documentation of a disabling condition.

Image: Wafaa Bilal, Domestic Tension, 2007. Photographs by Wafaa Bilal.

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