Cannons and Muses 大砲と美神コミュのCannons and Meses プロジェクト文

Cannons & Muses - art in times of war

An international collaboration


On dec. 16, 2008 Israel initiated a military operation on the Gaza strip. Israel's official intention was to decommission the "Hamas" terror organisation's forces and infrastructures.

Israel's citizens remained baffled in the face of the suffering on both sides. When it was time to make a stand in the public discourse, the art community in Israel mostly kept radio silence.

The question “Why is nothing being done?” came up as a group of Israeli art students organized an urgent artists conference, titled: "When the Cannons roar, the muses...". The conference brought together leading artists and art students to confront the question - what is the artist's role during war times?

Following the conference international collaborations began to form in the artistic and academic spheres.

This project is built to be a long term scholarly and artistic initiative to explore the elusive place art takes in real life situations, in particular times of crisis and further more - in times of war.



Programme Structure

The programme is a thoughtful process as well as a basis to a production.

Each of the locations participating in the Cannons & Muses project will work as a study group and as a production group.

These groups will examine the topic and develop from the discussion joint artistic ventures.

These art pieces will be a part of the international project, in the following categories:

A. Local exhibitions will take place at art galleries and performance stages in various countries. Some of the exhibitions will take place in the same time, creating a joint force of conscious art being made in the world. Other shows will simply be a manifestation of that joint consciousness while presented on different events and occasions around the world. Not only gallery-oriented productions, But public and site-specific art.

B. A travelling exhibition that will pass through the participating countries, including Germany, Ireland, Poland and Israel.

C. Stage Performances: Performance artists will be encouraged to create live and online performances, with relations to the dialogue with other artists - playwrights, directors, performers, stage, audio and video designers. Part of the project's administration in the various locales will be to assist in the communication between artists and appropriate venues.

D. Intensive workshop: A 4 days workshop for performance artists, mainly dance, theatre and direction, will take place in Berlin on July-august 2009, following a performance. The participants will be from the all the countries taking part of the project.

Artists interested in participating in the programme are requested to send their CV to cannons.muses@gmail.com



Art's role in history has always been to document the past and imagine the future through different prisms.

We wish to revive and renew the connection between the artists and the social thought.

This Dialogue between artists is the key. This encounter is open to ventures and ideas. We must create a dialogue in order to find a clear voice for the arts, taking in account the changes in social climate throughout the world, and the changes in the way that wars are being fought.

At the basis of this there is the disreputable claim that no war is just and no war is wanted.
With these keys, we embark on a mutual journey.



Best regards,
Cannons & Muses

cannons.muses@gmail.com

Cannons & Muses Coordinators:

Israel: Premshay Hermon
972-522-904970
premshay@gmail.com

Ireland: Moran Been-noon
batinzedesert@yahoo.com
(353) 86 161 1488