In 2008, the _gaia Wonder Women residency invited ten artists from the New Jersey/New York area to participate in a program to engage in discussion about their work, the cultural climate, the history of art, war, feminism, and social change. WWIII was interested in creating a dialogue and artwork that explores the issues of war and protest in a modern age. Each participant was encouraged to bring to weekly discussions, their interest in readings, artist heroes, activist heroes, feminist heroes, ideas, etc. As the projects came into focus, it became clear that we are living in a state of misunderstanding of what it means to live with war.
The exhibition and residency explores questions that arise out of our need to process our current relationship to war. Are we in the throes of a third world war? What would another world war look like? How would an escalation in the current war on terror affect our lives, and those of the people of this planet? What have we learned from our violent histories? How can we reflect our fears, concerns, and protests through our artwork and activism?
WWIII became a collective journey to determine our level of knowledge of a world at war, as well as to set a new standard of living with compassion and awareness. Each project represents a personal struggle with war and it’s effect on the future’s certainty, our use of the planet’s resources, personal stability, intimate relationships, limited knowledge of geography and world events, and everyday routines.
More _gaia? gaiastudio.org
See you later, INSTIGATOR.
-Narciso
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