Some 15,000 objects—roughly half of which remain at large today—were looted from the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad after the American invasion of the country in April 2003. A few years later, Michael Rakowitz set out with the goal of creating to-scale reproductions of every stolen artifact, a project so epic that it is still ongoing. Each replica is made using Middle Eastern commercial packaging for foodstuffs and local Arabic newspapers that were then exported to the US. Though these looted artifacts are now made visible once more, Rakowitz’s efforts also underscore the fragile nature of the originals, which may never return to the Museum. The piece doubles as both a form of institutional critique and a kind of research art: Accompanying labels reveal each original object’s status, and provide additional contextual information about its whereabouts from experts.
