In the 1950s, a new peace movement evolved in Europe – in response to an increasing nuclear threat. The Easter marches were held annually to protest against the nuclear armament of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. From 1979, while new rearmament plans intensified, the peace movement was gaining cross-national support. In this escalating political conflict between East and West, a NASA space station was conceived by the Western nations as a symbol of both peaceful cooperation and technological progress.
From the winter semester of 1982 to the summer semester of 1984, activist and Fluxus artist Robert Filliou taught as a visiting professor at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts. In the context of the prevailing social and political upheaval, he and his students initiated the Artist-in-Space Project, with a particular focus on the topic of aerospace security. This involved simulating training programmes and visiting the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt together. In continuation of the project, initial ideas for the Art-of-Peace Biennale were born. Concepts were developed collaboratively around the pivotal question “What is peace?” by lecturers and committed students who had teamed up to form the Artists-In-Space / Art-of-Peace Biennale Study Group. Overcoming the binary mindset of war and peace stood at the centre of the biennale – addressing peace not merely as the absence of conflict, but as an active, creative process. For countering war and injustice does not automatically create peace and justice. Consequently, the content of the Art-of-Peace Biennale should not consist of anti-war scenarios, violence and horror. Its aim was to explicitly give peace a form by means of sound, shape and feeling.
Filliou’s artistic practice was characterized by collaboration, spontaneity and spirituality, with art and everyday life merging seamlessly. The Art-of-Peace Biennale was thus intended to combine art, science and wisdom into a Gesamtkunstwerk giving rise to a new authenticity. This would in turn contribute to raising awareness for the fragile conditions of peace and the importance of art as a vehicle for societal change. Through a call printed and distributed by the thousands, artists worldwide were invited to explore peace as a state, aspiration and utopia for the coming space age. Artists from various countries and backgrounds contributed their perspectives and visions. The curatorial committee, consisting of Anne Berning, KP Brehmer, Herbert Hossmann, Georg Jappe, Siegfried J. Schmidt, Louwrien Wijers and Emmett Williams, selected 391 artists from 33 countries from more than 600 artistic proposals. René Block was the artistic director and organized the biennale, staged from 1 December 1985 to 12 January 1986 at Kunsthaus Hamburg and Kunstverein in Hamburg. The exhibition spaces became sites of political dialogue: around 150 artists were selected to participate with their drawings, sculptures and installations; a further 150 took part in the form of mail art, presented in showcases and displayed on reading desks. Some hundred unrealised proposals were additionally included in the presentation. Among the participants were Marina Abramovic and Ulay, Carl Andre, John Armleder, Christian Boltanski, Daniel Buren, James Lee Byars, John Cage, Miriam Cahn, Christo, Hanne Darboven, Allan Kaprow, On Kawara, Astrid Klein, Olaf Metzel, Keith Sonnier, Thomas Schütte, Wolf Vostell, Franz Erhard Walther and Lawrence Weiner.
This major interdisciplinary exhibition uniting a wide array of artistic expressions allowed international artists, activists and intellectuals to build a versatile network. It became a vibrant space of exchange drawing on the potential of art to establish connections between individuals and communities. In this regard, many of the selected works were aimed at actively involving the audience, for instance, Sol Lewitt’s wall drawing, in which anyone could draw an unbroken, non-straight abstract line within a two-metre circle. In addition to providing a stage for art, the biennale also provided a space for collective reflection, discussions, lectures and performances. On 29 November 1985, the Simultankonzert an drei Klavieren (Simultaneous Concert on Three Pianos) by the artists Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik and the composer Henning Christiansen took place in the auditorium of the University of Fine Arts. At the opening at Kunsthaus Hamburg and Kunstverein in Hamburg, the poet, performance artist and co-founder of the Fluxus movement Emmett Williams delivered a speech. By this time, the initiator Robert Filliou had already for three years, three months and three days retreated to the Buddhist monastery Chanteloube in the Dordogne in France, where he died in 1987.
In contrast to other biennales, which as major international events are usually organized in the same city every two years, the Art-of-Peace Biennale was to be an exhibition with changing locations. Follow-up events were planned in Paris, Oslo, London, Amsterdam and Bern. However, further editions were never realized. But the idea of travelling exhibitions can be found from 1996 onwards, for example at Manifesta. Filliou’s concept of art as a means of promoting a dialogue on peace and justice is more relevant today than ever. The Art-of-Peace Biennale was an extraordinary project combining artistic freedom and political commitment. At a time of nuclear threat and political tension, it served as a platform for the expression of hope for a peaceful future and alternative models of society. Particularly remarkable was the way in which art, politics and activism were interwoven to promote a vision of peace that went beyond mere rhetoric and demonstrated concrete possibilities for action. This biennale remains a historically significant example of how art can promote societal change. In a world marked by conflict and war, it serves to remind us that creative expression, dialogue and togetherness are essential elements in paving the way for sustainable peace.