PEDRO
REYES
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Pax Atomica is a fullscale
rendering of the
Hiroshima bomb also known
as Little Boy, transformed
into a bird cage where a
dove, symbolizing peace,
is trapped. The title may
conjure terms such as Pax
Romana, Pax Britannica or
Pax Americana, all used to
describe long periods of
apparent peace that, if
reviewed closely, were only
possible under ruthless
imperialist domination.
With this work Reyes hopes
to challenge the common
assumption that ‘there have
not been world wars since
nuclear bombs were first
used.’ To the contrary:
there have been and continue
to be countless wars,
precisely because of the
arrogance that characterizes
nuclear armed states.
Pedro Reyes’ work follows a
double path, addressing art
as both aesthetic research
and social practice. The
first is developed through
sculpture, the second
through conceptual and
participatory strategies. In
2008, Reyes initiated the
ongoing Palas por pistolas
project, in which 1,527 guns
were melted unto shovels
to plant 1,527 trees. This
led to Disarm (2012) and
the transformation of 6,700
destroyed guns into musical
instruments. Reyes has held
visiting faculty positions
at Bard College and the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. In 2022, Reyes
held three survey shows:
Escultura social at the
MARCO Museum in Monterrey,
Sociatry at the Marta
Herford Museum in Germany
and Direct Action at SITE
Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Organized by Estudio Pedro Reyes
in collaboration with ICAN
ARTISTS AGAINST THE BOMB is an exhibition of posters that call for universal nuclear disarmament. Each made by a different artist, the group comprises historical and newly
commissioned works that detail a cultural history of disarmament movements and evidence the diversity of ways in which artists have expressed the need to ban the bomb. ARTISTS AGAINST THE BOMB is designed for maximum agility and economic effectiveness, relying on a black and white palette both for its impact and ease o reproduction. We asked artists to ensure their works can exist on a variety of supports, ephemera such as posters, postcards, billboards, banners, flags, t-shirts and social media posts, as we aspire to achieve the widest possible circulation of this message.
ARTISTS AGAINST THE BOMB presents the works of foundational conceptual artists Art & Language; pop hero, Keith Haring; legendary feminists, Guerrilla Girls; performance artists Regina José Galindo and Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, as well
as eminent sculptors Magdalena Abakanowicz and Isamu Noguchi. It also features indelible photographs by Robert Del Tredici and Ken Domon alongside protest graphics from social movements such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), founded in 1958 and still active; the epic Peace Squadron and Visual Artists Against Nuclear Arms (VAANA); and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Additionally, it examines how stories are told, from the theater of Bread and Puppet to films like Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and Marguerite Duras / Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima Mon Amour, to an unexpected survey of literature, from an early
anticipation of an atomic bomb, first envisioned by H.G. Wells in 1918, to the viscera spoken word poetry of Jayne Cortez.
ARTISTS AGAINST THE BOMB, organized by Estudio Pedro Reyes in collaboration with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), is presented on the occasion of the Second Meeting of State Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) held at the United Nations in 2023.
To organize en exhibition of ARTISTS AGAINST THE BOMB please contact curatorial assistant Verana Codina.
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