In An informal conversation between Walid Raad and Adila Laidi-Hanieh, Raad discusses his 15-year project The Atlas Group, his research on the uses of car bombs in the Lebanese wars, and his current research on the history of art in the Arab world; and Hanieh discusses the issues of culture and Arab modernities, with a focus on: culture and the public sphere, Palestinian self-representational paradigms, the instrumentalisation of culture in modernisation processes and culture and political processes. This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 9