Unveiling for Michael Rakowitz’s ‘The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist’ in Trafalgar Square (Lamassau)

by: Malcolm Ford

I feel this is a great unveiling of Michael Rakowitz’s project as a whole. ‘The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist’ is the name of the project which seems to be a protest against the destruction and frankly pillaging of Iraqi art to be put in Western museums. A common and most striking theme about the collection is the use of Iraqi labeled products in the sculptures or on the outside of the Lamassau. The labels all say “Product of Iraq” which is a great way of showing how far off some of our understanding of the origins of some of these pieces truly rooted from.

Michael Rakowitz, “The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist” (2018), on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth (photo © Gautier DeBlonde, courtesy the Mayor of London’s Office) https://hyperallergic.com/436134/michael-rakowitz-fourth-plinth-trafalgar-square-london/