WAR & PEACE 2008

I started the War & Peace project in 2004 in response to the Iraq war.
How could war be offered as a solution, as a way of “bringing democracy to Iraq”? But the madness happended … despite the protest, despite millions marching all over the world.
Well, it’s been five years now. Life goes on. Are we just numb to what continues to happen? Fed up of watching the news drip out day after day, year after year, with no resolution in sight? Moved onto other concerns: the planet is flooding/drying up; rising food prices are causing riots; the credit squeeze is hurting?

Albert Camus wrote in Neither Victims nor Executioners in 1946, “…it is fear and silence and the spiritual isolation they cause that must be fought… and it is the universal dialogue that must be defended.”

The universal dialogue … That is what this project is about. Artist, film maker, activist, peace builder, peace keeper, citizen: all have different experiences to share. If we just retreat into our safe like-minded groups, there would be no dialogue.

War & Peace is about challenging perceptions. Last year we asked whether Art could make a difference. This year, let’s ask an even bigger question: What does it take to build peace?
Are you up to the challenge? Send us your moving image work. This is an open call.

Our selection panel comprises: Zoë Shearman (independent curator); Dominic Thomas (Stroud Valleys Artspace), Elena Hill (Contemporary Art Programming) and myself.

We are looking to put together a one hour long showreel of different work that will be screened at three venues on World Peace Day (Sunday 21 September 2008). The screenings will be part of an event to include speakers and audience discussion.

World Peace Day was established by UN resolution in 2001 after a campaign by film maker Jeremy Gilley. All over the world the day is marked with a mixture of celebration (marches and concerts) and action. In 2007 the Taliban observed a ceasefire on the day allowing the immunisation of thousands of children in Afghanistan.

The participating venues for War & Peace are:
• The Arnolfini, Bristol www.arnolfini.org.uk
• Stroud Valleys Artspace
• The Museum of Bath at Work (as part of the Bath Film Festival)

A screening fee will be paid of £100 per selected artist, plus a contribution towards travel costs to attend a screening, and a copy of the compilation DVD of the selected work. Details of work shown at War & Peace 07 and War & Peace 06 can be found at
www.war-and-peace.info.

Fiona Kam Meadley, War&Peace Coordinator c/o Stroud Valleys Artspace

See War & Peace web site for more detail