168:01, detail

Wafaa Bilal's 168:01 is a monument to the staggering cultural losses Iraq has endured over the past several decades. This bookshelf commemorates the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, during which the College of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad lost its entire library due to looters who set fire to the collection.

During the fire, more than 70,000 books were reduced to ashes. More than sixteen years later, few books remain in the library for art students to read and study.