Consequences

Peace & Justice (Scotland) presents

Consequences: Art and Activism in the Nuclear Age

exhibition and events curated by Iliyana Nedkova and Heather Kiernan as part of the Peace Cranes project

16 August – 3 September 2022 Free and open to all Mon-Sat 10am-5pm

Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 36 Dalmeny Street, Edinburgh EH6 8RG

#peacecranes #nuclearban #bairnsnotbombs

The Consequences exhibition and events have emerged within a context of fear, but also of hope. Fear, because of recent threats of nuclear weapons use alongside continuing modernisation and expansion of nuclear arsenals, but also hope because of the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which was adopted in 2017 and came into force in 2021 through the continued struggle from over 600 civil society organisations that comprise ICAN (the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), including Peace & Justice (Scotland). Through artist’s films, photography, sound art and poetry, we will explore the the catastrophic, widespread and persistent humanitarian and environmental consequences posed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine – another terrible reminder of the nuclear knife-edge on which the world is precariously balanced, as well as the ramifications of the nuclear power accidents at Chernobyl, Kyshtym and Fukushima, as well as the dropping and testing of the atomic bomb in Japan, Kazakhstan and the Marshall Islands. Some of the artists featured in Consequences include Maxim Dondyuk, Alla Georgieva, Su Grierson, Madelon Hooykaas, Peter Kennard, Keiko Sato, Pam Skelton, Elena Subach, Daria Svertilova, Edward Thompson and Mare Tralla. The exhibiton will also be accompanied by a series of talks, discussions, poetry readings and screenings, including The Vow from Hiroshima, a documentary about Hiroshima survivor and anti-nuclear campaigner Setsuko Thurlow.

Iliyana Nedkova and Heather Kiernan

Scroll down for further details of the first two years of our Peace Cranes project

Peace Cranes project at a glance: linktr.ee/PeaceCranes

*May That Nuclear War Be Cursed!* (1978) by Maria Prymachenko. UNESCO declared 2009 the year of Maria Prymachenko.
Progressive International declared this work by the Ukrainian artist Maria Prymachenko Art of the Week 7-14 March 2022 #InternationalWomensDay2022

The iconic Ferris wheel inside the overgrown city of Pripyat, 3km from Chernobyl nuclear power plant. From the featured photography series *The Red Forest* (2012) by **Edward Thompson**. Image courtesy the artist

Peace Cranes is a project exploring the twin existential threats of nuclear weapons and climate change through contemporary art and actvism. Initiated by Peace & Justice (Scotland), it is curated by Iliyana Nedkova and Heather Kiernan since 2020. Delivered with the support of a range of partners, volunteers, backers and funders.

The Peace Cranes project began online on 6 August 2020 and ran through November 2020 with a series of films, talks and theatre commemorating the 75th anniversary of the nuclear catastrophe caused by the US atomic bombing of the Japanese civilian populations in Hiroshima and in Nagasaki in August 1945. Tune in our 2020 programme here featuring artists Leo Ashizawa, Jeff Brown, Michael Mears, Chihiro Ono and You-Ri Yamanaka.

The project continued with Peace Cranes and Code Red – our exhibitions and events about peace, people and planet held across Edinburgh 6 August – 26 November 2021 which attracted over 15,000 in-person and online visitors and featured works by Scottish and international artists and activists, including Ian Dodds, Janis Hart, Peter Kennard, Michael Mears, Donna Riddington, Pam Skelton and You-Ri Yamanaka.

The Peace Cranes project culminates with Consequences. Art and Activism in the Nuclear Age 16 August – 3 September 2022, both in-person at Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 36 Dalmeny Street, Edinburgh EH6 8RG and worldwide online.