Artists for Peace was an international association, connecting people who wished to promote world peace through art. It was founded on 10 December 1993, following the succesful Bertha von Suttner exhibition “Die Waffen nieder!”, organised by the League of Nations Archives at the Library of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

In their first year, Artists for Peace had around 20 members with Ursula-Maria Ruser-Braüning as president. By 1998, the association counted more than 100 members from a wide range of nationalities and professions. The association has organised a large number of events since 1994, notably exhibitions, conferences and themed meetings. A newsletter and numerous publications were put out each year by the committee.

The association decided at an extraordinary general meeting to disband at the end of 1999. This was principally because their objectives (“…to give ideas, accentuate the vision, inspire and strengthen the creative means of its members…”) had been achieved. Informal, local groups of artists continued to organise events in the spirit of Artists for Peace, holding receptions and exhibitions in  Geneva, Berlin, New York and in the Schleswig Holstein up until 2004. The last conference was held in Jodhpur, India, in 2001.

Major events

1994

• 1st AfP exhibition to commemorate World Peace Day, 21 September 1994, featuring the work of German sculptor Erich Sauer. Exhibited in Geneva, Switzerland and Frankfurt, Germany.

1995

• 1st International AfP Conference “The arts – creativity , a means to achieve a peaceful future”, in Ferney-Voltaire, France
• 2nd AfP exhibition to commemorate World Peace Day 1995, featuring the work of South African Artists. Exhibited in Geneva, Switzerland; Düsseldorf, Germany and in Cape Town, South Africa.

1996

• 2nd International AfP Conference “There is no peace without beauty”, in Darmstadt, Germany
• 3rd AfP exhibition to commemorate World Peace Day 1996, featuring the work of Greek painter Dr. Wassili Lepanto. Exhibited in Geneva, Switzerland; Athens, Greece and Düsseldorf, Germany.
• AfP Exhibition 21 Sep – 6 Oct 1996 in St. Ulrich bei Steyr, Austria, Peace Summit’96 in connection with the Millennium celebration of Austria. Poster art: ‘Protector of the Woods’ by Leonard Peltier

1997

• 3rd International AfP Conference, “Beauty will save the world”, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Held in connection with the 10th anniversary of the Museum for Peace and Solidarity, Samarkand, and AfP Exhibition on “Art and Beauty”.
• AfP Exhibition/Art Project April 1997, “Oneness-World Vision-Reality” by Nikunja, exhibited in Geneva.
• 4th AfP Exhibition to commemorate World Peace Day 1997, featuring “Water Landscapes” photography by Wim Cox from Cologne, Germany. Exhibited in Geneva, Switzerland.

1998

• 4th International AfP Conference, “Grace of life – the beauty of movement and dance”, in Samos, Greece
• AfP Exhibition Aug 1998 “Live Visions”, in connection with the 50th anniversary of Human Rights, in cooperation with the FETE d’EXCELLENCE at the United Nations Office at Geneva.

1999

• 5th International AfP Conference, “The power of language, the written, the spoken and unspoken”, in Rolle, Switzerland

2001

• 6th International AfP Conference “The world is actually music”, in Jodhpur, India

Source:

Archives de la Ville de Geneve – Artists for Peace

The opening of the Bertha von Suttner Exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland, provided an opportunity for network members to meet again after the 1992 conference. The exhibition marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Bertha von Suttner. Amongst those present were Franz Deutsch, Peter van den Dungen, Margaret Glover, Anne Kjelling, Adolf Wild and the exhibition’s organiser Ursula-Maria Ruser, head of the League of Nations Archives.

The exhibition subsequently toured many cities in Europe and was very successful. It included a section devoted to ‘Artists for Peace’.

Hans Peter Kürten, director of the Friedensmuseum Brücke von Remagen, organised a peace museum tour for German INMP members, visiting sites in Germany, France and Switzerland.

Kazuyo Yamane was staying in London in 1993 and took the opportunity to visit peace museums in Europe. While visiting the founder of Friedensmuseum Lindau, her three young children were looked after by an honorary chair of the board of the museum, who also happened to be the sister of then German President, Richard von Weizsäcker.

The first peace museum in Austria was officially opened on 16 May 1993 at Wolfsegg. Museum director was Franz Deutsch. This followed the succesful “Friedensmuseum im Aufbau” (peace museum in the making) exhibition of 1992.

Friedensmuseum Im Afbau – exhibition brochure (PDF, 4MB)

Museum International is an academic journal that promotes the exchange of information about museums and cultural heritage on an international level. The journal aims to foster knowledge-sharing through interdisciplinary research and best practices for the protection of cultural heritage in a fast-changing world. Museum International has been published by UNESCO since 1948 and with Wiley-Blackwell since 1992.