“Peace isn’t the absence of war, but a dynamic process that can be built, nurtured and sustained”. Designing Peace shows the creative possibilities
Proposal for a Jordan River Peace Park, 2008-present (more detailed plans). From Designing Peace exhibition
A timely travelling exhibition, now in San Francisco till Feb 2024, is titled Designing Peace. Their intro below:
Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace…the exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.
The exhibition opens at a critical juncture of current global dynamics, with people facing vast social, environmental, and economic inequities, and dozens of continuing conflicts, from internal insurgencies, long-standing armed standoffs, territorial disputes, and, most recently, the Russia-Ukraine war.
This exhibition considers what might be possible if society were to design for peace and takes into account goal 16 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which calls directly for peace, justice, and strong institutions through the elimination of hunger and poverty, improvements in health and education, the building of more resilient cities and infrastructure, the fostering of innovation, action on climate change and more.
Designing Peace will feature 30 design proposals, initiatives, and interventions from over 20 countries, represented by objects, models, full-size installations, maps, images, and film.
Visitors will encounter a wide range of design responses to the underlying reasons for conflict and division, such as socioeconomic inequality, resource competition, and environmental degradation—and will be encouraged to consider their own agency in designing peace through interactive installations, quiet moments of reflection, and opportunities for practical action.
More here. The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum originally curated this, and set up a digital version of the exhibition, gathering text and images under the following titles:
Below is a small gallery of images from the site:
At Conflict Kitchen, food is taste tested with members of the local Palestinian community, Pittsburgh, 2014. Serving the cuisines of nations the United States was in conflict with helped people discover their shared humanity. Credit: © Conflict Kitchen. From “HOW CAN DESIGN EMBRACE TRUTH AND DIGNITY IN A SEARCH FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE?”
This video documents the Teeter-Totter Wall public installation on July 28, 2019, that engaged families on both sides of the steel border wall separating Mexico and the United States https://exhibitions.cooperhewitt.org/designing-peace/teeter-totter-wall/
New World Summit – Rojava consists of the design and construction of a new public parliament for the stateless government of Rojava in northern Syria—an alliance of Kurdish revolutionaries, Assyrians, and Arabs—and served as the location for an international summit that aimed to confront common crises through power and resource sharing with a diversity of peoples https://exhibitions.cooperhewitt.org/designing-peace/new-world-summit-rojava/
