The Monument: Art and Vulgarity in Saddam Hussein's Iraq
A Architecture, Art book. those interested in art critique and Iraq's recent history
In Baghdad, an enormous monument nearly twice the size of the Arc de Triomphe towers over the city. Two huge forearms emerge from the ground, clutching two swords that clash overhead. Those arms are enlarged casts of those of Saddam Hussein, showing every bump and follicle. The "Victory Arch" celebrates a victory over Iran (in their 8-year long war) that never happened. The Monument is a study of the interplay between art and politics, of how culture, normally an unquestioned good, can play into the hands of power with devastating effects. Kanan Makiya uses the culture invented by Saddam Hussein as a window into the nature of totalitarianism and shows how art can become the weapon of dictatorship.
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- Filetype: PDF
- Pages: 176 pages
- ISBN: 9781860649660 / 1860649661
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More About The Monument: Art and Vulgarity in Saddam Hussein's Iraq
those interested in art critique and Iraq's recent history Kanan Makiya is better known for Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq, Updated Edition. Instead of focusing on Saddam's government this book plunges into the artistic and architectural trends that resulted in the building of the monument known as The victory arch.The first three chapters explain the technical specs of the monument,... Kanan Makiya is a gifted writer, whose work on the Iraqi Ba'ath regime is unparalleled in "Republic of Fear." "The Monument": two hands holding crossed swords rising out of piles of the helmets of dead Iranian soldiers - is probably the most recognised symbol of totalitarianism in the Arab world. Makiya discusses the perversion of art...
