The artist Martin Bonadeo (1975) settled in Barcelona for three years, he sent invitations to people, institutions and social groups from all over the world, so that September 21st, the International Day of Peace, calls on the crowds to share a few minutes of silence and contemplate the image of a lit candle on all screens or projected as large murals on walls.
The international performance of Bonadeo, “Essays for Peace”aims to generate, through the representation of a lit candle, a moment of unity and reflection in a splintered world, without uttering words or names, without using advertising or associations of any kind, just with a candle.
The background to this action dates back to 2004, when Bonadeo projected a candle at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, USA. Then, in June 2021 in Buenos Aires, for five nights between 00:00 and 00:05, the 19 screens located at the intersection of Avenida Corrientes and Avenida 9 de Julio projected the poetic images of lit candles.
On that occasion, the Government of the City of Buenos Aires and the National Museum of Fine Arts joined the 17 companies that donated their space on the large-format LED screens surrounding the obelisk. This is how the first sponsors emerged. This year, the desire to expand the image to networks and screens has multiplied, and so have sponsorships. With the support of the World out of Home Organization, “Essays for Peace” will reach the screens of various continents. Numerous museums and Cultural Centers embrace this artistic performance and, in Argentina, the photographer Matilde Llambi Campbell He committed cultural institutions to calling for peace, from Ushuaia to the Puna.
“The flickering candle embodies a universal longing for peace: each flame represents a soul seeking tranquility and rises as a prayer for global solidarity.”he maintains Bonadeo. Then he adds that, “Essays for Peace” is supported by Pathways to Peace (PTP), a pioneering organization in peace meditation worldwide for over 40 years.
In turn, Llorenç Barber He composed a score for peace to accompany this action and to be played on the bells of each city. The bells will be instruments of peace. “The project proposes to organize a network of networks seeking inner peace,” the artist observes. “Hope and consolation can arise both spiritually and collectively.”“.
Trained as an art director and publicist, Bonadeo She earned a PhD in olfactory communication and completed transdisciplinary postdocs at the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Richmond, and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.
Since 2000, he has presented more than eighty exhibitions, five books and two documentaries have been published about his work. As a professor, he has given experimental courses and created university research centers in Argentina, the United States and Spain. Since his first installation “The path of the soul” (2001), his work explores the idea of reuniting heaven and earth.
His utopian thinking is present in “Essays for Peace” and predominates in two previous projects that revolve around the Southern Cross. In 2018, he presented the proposal curated by the theorist at the Argentine Foreign Ministry Marcelo Pacheco, “Southern Cross in the North”an ephemeral nocturnal intervention with four luminous balloons in the sky of Venice whose documentation in photos and video, remains, texts and context would be exhibited within the Argentine pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2019. The proposal was not accepted, however, the following email proves the dimension of the artist’s desire to have the work before his eyes.
Four years after conceiving the project, Bonadeo wrote from Venice: “These days we made it a reality. In the meantime, a competition took place in which the project was not chosen. Despite this, my need to put the Southern Cross in the sky of Venice was still alive. 10 days ago, @israeltolentinocotrina called me and invited me to Venice to visit the pre-inauguration of @labiennale di Venezia together. That was the signal that activated this project that was waiting for the right moment.”
And continues: “Together with @israeltolentinocotrina, @gbuntinxfb and their @Micromuseo, we had made a large Southern Cross on earth in the central Peruvian Andes at more than 4,100 meters above sea level. Since the idea of returning to Venice arose, we have been working with Israel, obsessed with this idea of placing our Southern Cross in the sky of Piazza San Marco.”
Marcelo Pachecoin his curatorial text describes the concept of the work: “The ocean of echoes of a cross and its stars, impossible to see from the northern hemisphere, are inverted by Bonadeo in his celestial and terrestrial illusion, in his material presence over Piazza San Marco. Thus, an idea present in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy is taken up again: paradise is accessed through four holy lights that are not seen in the northern hemisphere. Bonadeo subverts the Venetian sky by offering a southern constellation as an Argentinean offering.”.
The image was inconceivable. “Israel was the only accomplice and the one who took these incredible photographs at dawn of the different flights that our kite/Cruz del Sur made, while during the day we visited the Biennial”.
Today Bonadeo confirms his invitation. “All screens, whether public, private, large, small, and even on social media, can change the usual images and thus participate in a spiritual action. Follow us @essaysforpeace on Instagram, and share your participation with the hashtag #EssaysForPeace or #EnsayosParaLaPaz”, he concludes.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
