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Professor Hatton has written a catalog piece for the recent show at Twelve Gates Arts in Philadelphia:

Clear-Hold-Build takes its name from a counterinsurgency strategy in which military personnel clear an area of insurgents, sustain that expulsion by physical barriers, and then win support of the populace for the government and its policies. While its core tactics have deep historical precedents in colonial strategies of pacification and control, General David Petraeus outlined the strategy most explicitly in his 2007 Field Manual on Counterinsurgency Operations, which informed the US-led surge in Iraq and the War in Afghanistan.

By surveying the impact of this style of asymmetric, low-intensity conflict over the past seven decades, artists in Clear-Hold-Build reclaim denied spaces and narratives while drawing unexpected connections across time and space. Clear-Hold-Build features works by 9 artists: Bisan Abu-Eisheh, Dena Al-Adeeb, Shabir Ahmed Baloch, Samia Henni, Khaled Jarrar, Vladimir Miladinović, The Propeller Group, Farideh Sakhaeifar, and Hồng-Ân TrÆ°Æ¡ng. Employing a variety of media (painting, video, audio, installation, and performance), research methodologies, and social practices, the artists in Clear-Hold-Build take an expansive approach to counterinsurgency. Each artist recognizes the historical specificity of the doctrine as it has manifested in his or her location of origin, including Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Former Yugoslavia. Simultaneously, they illuminate its continued function as a global governing paradigm.

The accompanying publication is a beautiful, 80 page book featuring essays and images by scholars, artists, and curators that reflect on the theme of the show. Purchase online , or in the gallery. 

To see the full press release, and stay up to date with programming, check out HEKLER's and .