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Kids Guernica

KIDS' GUERNICA is an international peace project for children to realize peace through art in different places of the world. It is done by creating peace paintings on a huge canvas having the same size as Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" (3.5 m × 7.8m).

It is a well known fact that the Guernica painting by Picasso was created in Paris in 1937 out of protest against the bombardment of Guernica in the Spanish/Basque region.

KIDS’ GUERNICA started as a peace movement in 1995 in Japan, that is fifty years after World War II and this in memory of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the new Guernicas. It calls upon especially children and the youth to express their understanding of peace by entering together a collaborative learning process so as to allow them to paint together their message of peace.

 

Thomas Economacos introducing children to painting on such a huge canvas in Chios May 2007

Mural from children in New Zealand

Once children participate in the making of the murals, they unravel their imagination and creativity in dealing with the notions of war and peace. At the same time, adults who share these experiences, they can rediscover the enthusiasm that is hidden inside them. Indeed, children’s art can show us things due being brought about by honest souls still open minded about the world and not at all pessimistic. Children love colours while cherishing above all one thing: friendship. With it comes human contact and a perception of the world which is free of enemy pictures. Thus the images they create are embedded in reality, in human experiences, in making possible the impossible, namely peace.

Since 1995 more than 250 wonderful paintings have already been completed around the world. It has become an international peace movement for children and youth who invite the adults to join them in this quest for lasting peace.

More information at www.kids-guernica.org and www.poieinkaiprattein.org/kids-guernica

There have taken place Kids' Guernica actions in Asia, Europe, Northern America, Middle East all while working on future actions in Africa and Latin America.

USA, JAPAN, KOREA, FRANCE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA, NEPAL, KUWAIT, INDIA, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, TAIWAN, BANGLADESH, ETHIOPIA, GERMANY, ALGERIA, CHILE, SRI LANKA, CAMBODIA, ITALY, INDONESIA, UK, BRAZIL, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, ISRAEL & PALESTINE, LEBANON, HOLLAND, THAILAND, AUSTRIA, BELARUS, CZECH, GREECE, AFGHANISTAN, EAST TIMOR and many more countries have been involved so far.

Magnolia Albertazzi, Effie, Deniz Hasirci, Asit Poddar, Mr. Nichtas, Hatto Fischer, Jad Salman, Takuya Kaneda, Savina Tarsitano in front of the Izmir-Chios mural at exhibition in Athens Oct. 2007                                                                                       Photo: Kostas Kartelias

Cultural calendar / Kids' Guernica events:

2011

Action in Tuebingen, Germany

In Tuebingen, 15.-23.7. 2011, there shall be held a youth festival in July 2011 and this shall be linked with Kids’ Guernica. More information shall follow.

Contact:
Ines Dulay-Winkler
Jugendkulturtage Tübingen
Projektleitung
Gartenstraße 37 / 1
D - 72074 Tübingen
0049 / 07071 / 25 33 44
0173 / 8306265
www.jukuta.de

Kids’ Guernica and European Capitals of Culture for 2016: Wroclaw and San Sebastian

Wroclaw 2016

Adam Chmielewski, philosopher and director of Wroclaw 2016, wants Kids’ Guernica to be included in the official program when European Capital of Culture in 2016.

San Sebastian 2016

The Spanish city of San Sebastian wants to use culture to go against terrorism. When biding successfully for the title, the city undertook a Kids’ Guernica action towards the end of May. San Sebastian is 50 Km away from Guernica. The children gave to their mural the title: "the magic vacuum cleaner for peace!"


Planned action for Togo, Africa

The other is the start of collaboration with Togo in Africa through Christa Dunkl, teacher at a school in Mannheim and who has developed support for a school in Togo. The action will be supported by Mike van Graan and his ARTerial Network in South Africa. More information shall follow once these projects mature.

RELIEF action for Japanese children and youth:

Athens:

As to the RELIEF action for Japanese children and youth to join a summer camp, I had a long talk with Maria Capari and her daughter Stella who is now 13 years of age and very mature. When we did our first mural here in Athens and which became known “the war is over”, Stella participated as one of the children. She was also at the Kids’ Guernica action in Kastelli, Crete in 2006 and in Chios in 2007. Later she went with her mother to Japan to Kyoto for a Kids’ Guernica action there. Thus she has this Kids’ Guernica specific knowledge and experience. She will talk with her school as they are organizing a summer camp. Reflections with Stella

Stella was very keen to know how we shall organize the coming of the Japanese children and youth to Europe during this coming summer and especially how we shall pay for the flight tickets?

I have asked Takuya to prepare a list of children and youth who are both in need and equally willing to come. It would be best that other children take up correspondence with them.

There are above all the children who did a mural in Sendai one month before the catastrophe struck on March 11th.

It was very good to talk with Stella since we had not seen each other for some time but due to the memories of Kids’ Guernica and related experience, it is vital to see what happens to her and others who have been involved in past actions. This growing up and maturing with such an international understanding brings to fore what children reflect best: a much greater maturity for they do not expect to push a bottom and get immediate result. For instance, Stella asked how to get the interest of adults in order to support the RELIEF action for this summer?

Contact with Gezoncourt and Gent:

Stella will also write a letter (in French) to the youngsters who did the mural in Gezoncourt together with Alexandra Zanne as well as to the young people involved in Kids’ Guernica in Gent.

Connecting youth through Kids’ Guernica:

As we always said, it is best when the young people start to engage themselves and take up direct contact.

February

One day conference in Gent, Belgium: "Kids' Guernica and European Capitals of Culture: the cultural dimension of peace"

February 18th, 2011 at University of Gent organised by Bart Verschaffel and Hatto Fischer with the support of the City of Gent, mayor Daniel Termont

2010

KIDS' GUERNICA celebrating its 15th anniversary: 1995 - 2010

January

March

August

September

October

November

Nous avons eu l'argent pour Kid's Guernica
la Région nous donne 50% du budget
et notre communauté de communes nous donnera de l'argent, ils n'ont  
pas encore décidé combien.

Kids Guernica a Gézoncourt pres de Nancy

2009 - activities

Oct. - Nov. there took place a Kids' Guernica action in Picasso's atelier where GUERNICA was painted.

This special Kids' Guernica action in Picasso's atelier in Paris was coordinated by Boris Tissot. Poiein kai Prattein supported this action by providing funds for the website done by Benjamin Cornu and by having Anna Arvanitaki and Hatto Fischer in Paris around that time. Jad Salman participated as painter in the workshop. Monique Kissel and her students visited the atelier to learn from this action but were disappointed by being a show of mere 'professional formalism'. It meant the children were effectively guided towards adopting techniques of design and computer scanning to obtain suitable images. Manuel from Ghent paid a visit to narrate to the children how his father was evacuated when a child from Guernica after the bombardment in 1937 and taken to Ghent. The children made a special gift to Jad Salman by painting a smaller mural in colour.

Gift by children to Jad Salman

This tiny mural was very much in contrast to the official mural done only in 'black and white' with the exception of a small rainbow in color. The mural was done under the supervision and control of Boris Tissot and his partner Jean Marc. It sparked the question but what should be the role of adults in any Kids' Guernica action. How this issue is perceived and evaluated within Kids' Guernica will have an impact upon future developments, in particular as to what self understanding shall prevail and how the International Committee will manage growing diversity and complexity as more Kids' Guernica actions are undertaken around the world.

KIDS' GUERNICA cultural actions, workshops and exhibitions                           organised by Poiein kai Prattein

Exhibition at the Zappeion Megaron jointly with the ECCM Symposium "Productivity of Culture", Oct. 17 - 21, 2007 See www.productivityofculture.org

Cultural action linking Chios, Greece with Izmir, Turkey in September 2007

Workshop and Exhibition in Chios, May 4 - 7, 2007

and in Kastelli, Crete April 2006.

Prior to that POIEIN KAI PRATTEIN participated in the International Kids’ Guernica Festival in Bali in August 2005 with the painting "The War is Over!"

and organized together with Peace Waves the Olympic Truce Youth meeting in Torino March 2005 while publishing on the website contributions by poets to the Olympic Truce movement during the Olympic Games in Athens 2004 in connection with "Poets against the War" (Sam Hamill)

Start of the Izmir-Chios mural in Chios, May 2007

Kids' Guernica exhibition with the ECCM Symposium 'Productivity of Culture' in Athens, Oct 2007

Thomas Economacos with children of Athens School 108 and participants of the ECCM Symposium "Productivity of Culture", Athens 2007

Photo: Kostas Kartelias

For Kids' Guernica actions either financial support or contributions are needed:

Needed are canvas (7,8 x 3,5 m) for paintings, paints, sketch books, drawing utensils. For documentation video camera and supplies as well as support for publication.

Funds to cover travel and accommodation expenses for children and artists acting as coordinators and facilitators.

Work in progress takes place with regards to publication / documentation / videos for online streaming.

Responsible:


Hatto Fischer: Coordinator

Poiein kai Prattein

Lycabettoustr. 23, 10672 Athens, Greece

and

Takuya Kaneda: International Coordinator    Photo: Kostas Kartelias

KIDS’ GUERNICA INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE
c/o Department of Child Studies, Otsuma Women’s University
12 Sanbancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-8357 Japan
Takuya Kaneda
(international coordinator)

www.kids-guernica.org

Sources of information

For exhibition catalogue edited by Tom Anderson Tallahassee, Florida, January 2010 see

www.insea.europe.ufg.ac.at/.../KIDS'_Guernica_2009_FSU_exhibition_catalog.pdf

YouTube: “KIDS’ GUERNICA is a peace project for children through art in different places of the world to create peacepaintings on huge canvases the same size as Pablo Picasso’s ‘Guernica’, 1937 (3.5 m x 7.8m), which protested against the brutality of bombing in the town of Guernika during the Spanish civil war.
The participant children expressed powerful messages of peace with their creativity and imagination, which would contribute to world peace in the 21st century.”

Source:http://www.ikonotv.de/blog/?p=2845

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