Walid Raad has spent 25 years exploring a range of issues from the facticity of photographic and video documents to the histories of art within the Arab world. The Museum of Modern Art in New York recently highlighted a retrospective of his work, based largely around two bodies of work; The Atlas Group and Scratching on things I could disavow. Raad’s work is often photographic in nature, but also includes performances from Raad himself.

Raad is currently an associate professor at the Cooper Union School of Art.

Since 1985, the International Center of Photography has recognized outstanding achievements in photography with its prestigious Infinity Awards. The awards ceremony is also ICP’s primary fundraising benefit, with its revenues assisting the center's various programs.

Harbers Studios commissioned MediaStorm, on behalf of ICP, to create a short film about each of the recipients to screen at the awards ceremony and to display online. The films pay tribute to the contributions of each artist to the craft and field of photography and demonstrate ICP's commitment to them.

The primary challenge was working around the artist's desire not to have his face shown during the film.

Cinematographer Rick Gershon, Director Brian Storm and Producer/Editor Tim McLaughlin identified a performance by Walid Raad at the Museum of Modern Art, as a potential shoot date for the film. Coordinating the coverage with MoMA, the MediaStorm team documented Raad’s performance, as well as his artwork. For much of the footage, Gershon avoided Raad’s face, but for those shots which did, McLaughlin blurred his face using Premiere Pro’s gaussian blur effect.

The films were shown on April 11, 2015 at the 2016 International Center of Photography’s Infinity Awards in New York and launched online on April 12, 2016.

The films available here are the full-length pieces. We also created shorter versions to show at the awards ceremony.

This film was a collaboration with Harbers Studio and the International Center of Photography.

Harbers Studios turbocharges the efforts of charitable entrepreneurs by helping them tell their stories. Our goal is to help them articulate and share the value of the work they do so they can inspire others to help them do it. Working with some of the best filmmaking talent in the world, Harbers Studios creates compelling visual narratives that enhance the endeavors of organizations working to make the world a better place.

The International Center of Photography (ICP) is the world’s leading institution dedicated to the practice and understanding of photography and the reproduced image in all its forms. Through exhibitions, educational programs, and community outreach, ICP offers an open forum for dialogue about the role images play in our culture. Since ICP’s founding, they have presented more than 500 exhibitions and offered thousands of classes, providing instruction at every level. ICP is a center where photographers and artists, students and scholars can create and interpret the world of the image within our comprehensive educational facilities and archive.

As a privately funded nonprofit arts and education organization, ICP depends in large part on friends such as you for support. Your generosity is vital to ICP as it continues to grow and succeed in its mission: to present photography's extraordinary power to the public.

There are many ways to give to ICP: Donate to the Annual Fund, create a scholarship, sponsor exhibitions and education programs, contribute to the Collection, or make a planned gift.

Since 1985, the International Center of Photography has recognized outstanding achievements in photography with its prestigious Infinity Awards. The awards ceremony is also ICP’s primary fundraising benefit, with its revenues assisting the center's various programs.

Harbers Studios commissioned MediaStorm, on behalf of ICP, to create a short film about each of the recipients to screen at the awards ceremony and to display online. The films pay tribute to the contributions of each artist to the craft and field of photography and demonstrate ICP's commitment to them.