Para Bellum II exhibition in Gdynia, Poland
November 23, at 15:00, at the ART39 Gallery in Gdynia, Poland, will be an opening of the exhibition Para Bellum II, in which I take part.
Here is some information on the exhibition from the organisers:
PARA BELLUM
Get ready for the war - II
Si vis pacem, para bellum (literally "If you want peace, prepare for war") is a Latin proverb paraphrased from the prologue of the „Art of War” written by Venetius – a Roman historian from the 4th century AD.
This is the second edition of the international exhibition. The first took place on the anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2023. Its context changed after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel and the bombings of the Gaza Strip. Today, in addition to the war in Ukraine, we have thousands of victims on the Palestinian and Israeli sides. Conflict in the Middle East and the mass exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh for fear of ethnic cleansing after the recent military intervention of Azerbaijani troops. We can ask ourselves whether the world is at risk of the outbreak of World War III? Is this war already going on?
Because of art, it is harder for us to look away and retreat to the safe everyday life.
In the midst of the 20th century, in the middle of Europe, the Nazi and Soviet regimes murdered approximately fifty million people. We naively believed in the victory of democracy and freedom after the end of the Cold War, but authoritarianism has returned to Russia through Putin's oligarchs, nationalists, separatists and radicals.
Cruelty, fear, hatred, genocide, violence, rape, tragedy, destruction, death – these are a few words to describe the war. This time it is ”our" war, which is so close, not only because of the proximity of Ukraine, or because of that the Russian orcs might come after us, but also because we are deeply involved in it.
The war, which until recently seemed to be an important but closed experience in our part of Europe, returns today as a still current and terrifying possibility. After the October attack by Hamas on Israel, not only Israel's immediate neighbours but also Europe are increasingly afraid of being drawn into the conflict. the threat of violence and terrorist attacks by Hamas sympathizers in its territory is increasing. The war is spreading more and more widely.
In this war, which began exactly one year ago (February 24), Russia attacked Ukraine, in a war in which the whole world is now involved and which is still going on. The voice of artists in the fight for freedom and truth is very important. Artists have not stopped creating. They comment on the suffering that surrounds them, trying to draw attention to the injustice affecting them and trying to appeal to the conscience of the world.
Through art, we express our opposition to war. According to Tymothy Snyder’s book „On Tyranny. Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” the twentieth principle is a double decalogue rooted in the lessons from the past, we can read:
"Be as brave as you can. If none of us is willing to die for freedom, we will all die in tyranny”.
For information in Polish and Ukrainian, please follow this link:
