Ania Soliman: Biohazards

The Drawing Center's

AN I A S O LI M A N BI OHAZARD5

B ioha z a r d s ( Y e l l o w ) , 2 0 0 0 W ax m e d i u m a n d p i g m en t 5' 8" x 2 8 ' L 7 " ( 2 m 3 cm x 8 m 8 L cm )

I2 AN I A S O LI M A N BI OHAZARD5

Th e D raw i ng C enter ' s DRAWI NG R00M 4o wooster streer September 9 - 0ctober 7, 2000

PART I) Four drawings, each rimarily in one chromatic regi ster, based on proj ected sti lls from a televi sion cumentary about epi demics

Source: Ends of the Earth: Ki Iler Vi rus, (D'iscovery/ The Learning Channel, 1998)

The documentary uses footage of various eoidemic outbreaks and their aftermath to anchor i ts sci enti fi c and factual voi ceovers. After bei ng fi lmed, processed, and broadcast, places and people serve to i ltustrate a narrative, appearing as allegories of the fear of infection.

The Biohazards drawings translate images from the context 'in which they are usually aired, allowing viewers to take up di fferent relationships to what they see.

PART II) A select'ion of fragments from a documentary thritter about the Ebola epi demic , grouped i nto categori es and recomposed 'i n non-narrati ve sequences.

The categories consist of grammatical terms (like "'if "and "but") and topics that appear in the text (such as "vi rus" and "fear" ) .

Source: The Hot Zone, Preston, Ri chard, (New York: RandomHouse, 1995)

e book imparts the exci tabi 1i ty derivable from the "it could happen here" scenario, building up narrative tension by revealing various potentiat routes through which the infect'ion could have spread beyond 'its narrowly The Hot Zone Index confined limits. extracts language from its narrat'ive access function, providing a different to the events descri bed.

Bi ohazards (B l ack), 2000 Wax medi um and pj gment 6' 8" x 33' 9" (2m 3 cm x 10 m 29

Thucydides, Defoe, and Camus described the plague as a social phenomenon, usi ng 'i t to reveal the workings and collapse of human 'institutions.

Recent representat.ions of eoidemics enact the drama of international relations. wh'ich are seen through the lens of contagion and quarant'ine.

S'ince the conf erence, the topi c of ighly contag'ious diseases has come something of a media staple, ith accounts informing the public f industrialized countries about the oossible threat of infection. hese narratives play out anxieties bout the stabilitv of boundaries that parcel up all usable land ng legally rec ogni zed nati ons.

In L977,fo11owing an epidemic of the Ebota virus in Congo (then Zaire), an i nternat'iona1 colloqu'ium was held i n Antwerp. Sponsored by both the World Health 0rgani zation and the Pri nce Leopold Inst'itute of Tropi cal Med'icine, the colloquium listed examples of "vjral disease(s) apparently'new' to medicine" ori gi nati ng i n former coloni es , i ncluding the ll{est Njle Virus, Kyasanur Forest Disease, O'Nyong Nyong Fever, Bolivian Haemorrhagic Fever, and the Marburg and Ebola Fevers.

5ource'. International Colloquium on Ebola Virus Infection and 0ther Haemorrhagic Fevers,Pattyn, 5.R. (New York: Elsevier Biomedical Press, 1,978)

easures taken for eoidemic containment have included the institutionalization of edi ca1 border control at ai rports. A paper presented in Antwerp discussed the need for " survei llance of travelers w'ith symptoms," mentioning "standard isolat'ion faci 1i ties" for unwell passengers from esi gnated dangerous areas. These areas f ten share thei r name wi th the v'iruses thev become associ ated wi th.

The movie 0utbreak is a Hollywood fan tasy of what would happen if borders ere crossed and an eoidemic of an incurable and almost absurdlv contai ous vi rus occu r red i n the Uni ted tates. The mi 1 i tary takes over the government, the hospitat becomes a pri son, and fi nally an enti re ci ty i s marked for nuclear eliminat'ion.

B iohaz a r d s ( B l u e ) , 2 00 0 W ax m e d i u m a n d p i g m e nt 6' 8" x 2 4 ' 6 " ( 2 m 3 cm x 7 m 4 7 cm )

An i a S olim an ' is a n Eg y p ti a n c i t' i z e n and w or k s in New Y o rk .

w h o w as born i n W arsaw , P ol and (1970). 5he l i ves

i n the country to i nsti tuti on T he Dr awin g C e n te r i s th e o n l y n ot-for-profi t both contemporary and hi stori c. o f draw i ngs, f oc us s olel y o n th e e x h i b i ti o n p ro v ' i de for emergi ng and under1 9 7 5 to opportuni ti es I t was es t a b l i s h e d ' i n of draw i ngs throughout to d e mo n s tra te the si gni fi cance r ec ogniz ed a rti s ts ; p u b l i c of art and cul ture. d i al ogue on.i ssues his t or y ; a n d to s ti m u l a te T his is nu mb e r 1 2 o f th e D ra w i n g P apers, a seri es of publ i cati ons documenti ng T he Dr aw' n i g C e n te r' s e x h ' ib i ti o n s a nd publ i c programs and provi d' i ng a f orum f or t he s t u d y o f d ra w i n g . T h e D raw i ng P apers publ i catj on seri es i s pri nted on M onadnoc k D u l c e t 1 0 0 # Smo o th T e x t and 80# D ul cet S mooth C over.

M ajor s upp o rt fo r th e d e v e l o p m e n t and presentati on been genero u s l y c o n tri b u te d b y F rances D i ttmer.

B O A RDO F D IR EC T OR S Di t a A m or y G eor ge Neg ro p o n te C o - C h a ir n e n

F r anc es B e a tty A d l e r J am es M . C l a rk , J r.

F r anc es Di ttm e r Colin E is le r B r uc e W . F e rg u s o n Hi c hael I ov e n k o W er ner H. Kra ma rs k y A bby Lei gh W illiam 5. L ' ie b e rm a n Hi c hael Ly n n e E liz abet h R o h a ty n * i E r ic C. Ru d ' n Dr . A llen L e e Se s s o ms J eanne C. T h a y e r* E dwar d H. T u c k E t i z abet h We ir A ndr ea W oo d n e r Cat her ine d e Z e g h e r E x e c u t i v e D i r e cto r * E m e ri t a

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B i ohazards (Pi nk), 2000 Wax medi um and pi gment 6' 8" x 26' 2" (2 m 3 cm x 7 m 98 cm)