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'Based on accounts from primary sources, Wael Shawky complicates the traditional civilization clash narrative by describing scenes that refute common notions of the era. Shawky highlights both the secular motivations of the European fighters and the competition and violence among Arab leaders. Using 200-year-old marionettes from a collection in Italy for the first instalment, and custom-made ceramic figures for the second, Shawky says the puppets help create a "surreal and mythical atmosphere that blends drama and cynicism, telling a story of remote events that could hardly be more topical today. The puppets' strings clearly refer to the idea of control. The work also implies a criticism of the way history has been written and manipulated."' Museum of Modern Art, New York