Is peace an exceptional state? Is it fact that war breeds another war? Is war an inevitable destiny of mankind?
This is a public art intervention working with and around the war monuments in London within global context of war and peace. Aiming to freeze the reality for a limited time with intention to stage a long-term awareness about the atrocities of war and rethink of another mechanism than war that could accommodate our differences and conflicts in interests, ideologies, faiths and ethnics. With the social and political changes of post WWII in mind, the project asks topical questions about the role of art within the context of war and peace.
Wrapping a number of monuments in London that correspond to wars’ victories, victims and combatants with floral fabric for one week will suggest answers to the questions outlined above. The intervention aims to focus not only on the monuments themselves but also on the way we are allowed to look at and to talk about them in public domain. Peace State of aWareness asks topical questions about war and peace, form and content, and the conventional notions of progress and modernity are put up for argument. The role of monument in contemporary cultural practice will be tested and the relation to history and present will be explored. People are asked to play an active role, while encouraging critical thinking about the tackled issues. The project seeks to provoke and inspire the public while promoting critical, long-term thinking about art’s role in the contemporary world. The global condition demands culturally, socially, environmentally and politically consciousness. The veil/unveil of the monuments will reactivate their present, intention and significance.
The wrapped monuments will be seen, as an eye-catching temporary structure and a prominent feature of the city cultural landscape. Places will be created for discovery, intimacy and gathering. The project seeks for adventurous, alternative and even radical approach of what contemporary monumental art and curatorial practices could be.
The dictionary defines war as the ‘State of conflict, generally armed, between two or more entities, and peace as a ‘state of tranquillity or quiet: freedom from civil disturbance: a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom.’ Is the erection of victory monument a declaration of achieving peace? Or paving the way for a coming war? With the beginning of the Blitz, the ‘home front’ became an important subject…he has been soon instigated to record the happing in order not to forget.
“all the time I was evacuated I used to tell myself that one day the war would be over and I could go back home. After the war… I made my way back to where I used to live. The whole area had been obliterated during… the Blitz and I was quite unable to find the spot where our house once stood. That happened more than 50 years ago… but somehow I am still waiting to go home.” Jim Bartley, evacuee
Peace State of aWareness
Is peace an exceptional state? Is it fact that war breeds another war? Is war an inevitable destiny of mankind?
This is a public art intervention working with and around the war monuments in London within global context of war and peace. Aiming to freeze the reality for a limited time with intention to stage a long-term awareness about the atrocities of war and rethink of another mechanism than war that could accommodate our differences and conflicts in interests, ideologies, faiths and ethnics. With the social and political changes of post WWII in mind, the project asks topical questions about the role of art within the context of war and peace.
Wrapping a number of monuments in London that correspond to wars’ victories, victims and combatants with floral fabric for one week will suggest answers to the questions outlined above. The intervention aims to focus not only on the monuments themselves but also on the way we are allowed to look at and to talk about them in public domain. Peace State of aWareness asks topical questions about war and peace, form and content, and the conventional notions of progress and modernity are put up for argument. The role of monument in contemporary cultural practice will be tested and the relation to history and present will be explored. People are asked to play an active role, while encouraging critical thinking about the tackled issues. The project seeks to provoke and inspire the public while promoting critical, long-term thinking about art’s role in the contemporary world. The global condition demands culturally, socially, environmentally and politically consciousness. The veil/unveil of the monuments will reactivate their present, intention and significance.
The wrapped monuments will be seen, as an eye-catching temporary structure and a prominent feature of the city cultural landscape. Places will be created for discovery, intimacy and gathering. The project seeks for adventurous, alternative and even radical approach of what contemporary monumental art and curatorial practices could be.
The dictionary defines war as the ‘State of conflict, generally armed, between two or more entities, and peace as a ‘state of tranquillity or quiet: freedom from civil disturbance: a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom.’ Is the erection of victory monument a declaration of achieving peace? Or paving the way for a coming war? With the beginning of the Blitz, the ‘home front’ became an important subject…he has been soon instigated to record the happing in order not to forget.
“all the time I was evacuated I used to tell myself that one day the war would be over and I could go back home. After the war… I made my way back to where I used to live. The whole area had been obliterated during… the Blitz and I was quite unable to find the spot where our house once stood. That happened more than 50 years ago… but somehow I am still waiting to go home.” Jim Bartley, evacuee
Peace State of aWareness