‘We’re building peace right here, where we already have it (or so it seems)’ – say the curators of Generator Malta, at the same time introducing the first project that will be realised during this year’s edition of Malta Festival. „art_tools for peace” is an open call for artists, activists, educators and cultural promoters to design ‘tools for peace’. The deadline for the submissions is 7 April 2019.
Generator Maltas has been a crucial element of Malta Festival for seven years. On one hand, it is the festival’s village, the heart of Malta situated at the heart of Poznań – the Liberty Square. On the other hand, it is an artistic-social program, a platform for creativity, exchange of ideas, art, fun and for cooperation. This year, Generator Malta wants to provoke reflection on peace as not something to be taken for granted, but as a sphere of permanent negotiation, something that needs to be constantly worked out ‘here and now’. Can we really say that a territory not involved in any military conflict is truly at peace? What are real chances for global peace in the world which is on the verge of an ecological disaster? Can art become a tool for designing, building and generating peace? This year’s edition of Generator Malta is curated by Joanna Pańczak i Agnieszka Różyńska.
The aim of the project is is to develop peace-building tools: an object, installation, educational-artistic process, performance etc. A number of ideas will be selected to be later realised during the festival. The open call for ideas began on 14 March and will last until 7 April - that is the time given to participants to create their concept and send their submission. The results will be announced on 10 April.
Artists have been exposing us to the consequences of wars and conflicts for centuries. And for centuries indeed, they have also been seeking instruments that render peace in various spheres of human existence. ‘We believe that peace can be generated via any available medium. We recognise the ‘peace-forming’ potential in a wall graffiti which inspires action or resistance as we pass it by daily, but also in a full-blown artistic installation set in public space, poetry, performative acts, or a documentary’ – explain Joanna Pańczak and Agnieszka Różyńska, Generator Malta’s curators.
They also give interesting examples and inspirations for ‘tools for peace’: Krzysztof Wodiczko, who is currently developing his ‘Institute of Culture Disarmament and Putting End to Wars’, a German artistic collective Army of Love, offering all-encompassing sensual love (care, desire and respect) to all those who need it, or an international think tank IRI (Institute of Radical Imagination), committed to rethinking the society anew and figuring out fair distribution of goods within it.
Ideas for ‘tools for peace’ can be submitted until 7 April – participants need to fill out an application form and send it to generator@malta-festival.pl. More information, conditions and details can be found in our Rules of Participation. The participants whose work will be selected will have an opportunity to realise their concept in the Generator Malta’s festival village or in another public space in Poznań during Malta Festival Poznań (21-30 June)
This year’s edition of the festival takes place from 21 and 30 June. The idiom’s claim is ‘Army of the Individual’, and its curator is Nástio Mosquito