Organized by Estudio Pedro Reyes
in collaboration with




A collective poster project where every participating artist nominates two more artists, as an allegory of a creative chain reaction. The project is a collection of urgent messages calling for universal nuclear disarmament.

In 2023, the nine global nuclear powers, The United States, China, Russia, France, UK, Israel, North Korea, India and Pakistan are expanding their nuclear arsenals. We are entering a silent new arms race in which trillions of dollars are being spent. At this exact moment, there are open threats of thermonuclear war, as well as nuclear tests being carried out. The world is dangerously close to a nuclear disaster.

In opposition to this trend, the ICAN established a landmark global agreement to ban nuclear weapons, known officially as the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons in 2017. It entered into force in January 2021 and has been signed by an overwhelming majority of the world’s nations.

Nuclear weapons have always been immoral; they are now illegal in the 92 signatory countries.

We know the countries that have yet to sign the nuclear ban treaty — the ones with the power to kill us all — will be the last to join. In nations hijacked by their military-industrial complexes, we can’t expect change to come from the top. Unless we exert public pressure worldwide, we are likely to experience nuclear war in our lifetime.

The good news is: we have done this in the past. Art and activism pressured governments in the 60s, 70s and 80s to dramatically reduce nuclear arsenals. An example of this was the 1 million protestors that gathered in Central Park in 1982, at the peak of the anti-nuclear movement. In 2020 there were approximately 13,400 nuclear weapons worldwide, compared with 63,632 in 1985, the highpoint for the global nuclear weapon stockpile.

Artists Against The Bomb was first publicly introduced in Vienna at the MST1, the first Meeting of States Parties to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the closing project will be presented in November of 2023 at the Second Meeting of State Parties MST2 at the United Nations in New York City.

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Organized by Estudio Pedro Reyes
in collaboration with ICAN






ARTISTS AGAINST THE BOMB is a collection of urgent messages calling for universal nuclear disarmament. This series of posters designed by international artists can be printed locally and exhibited anywhere in the world. Participating artists grant permission for these images to be used to spread awareness about the imminent threat of nuclear war and the urgent need to abolish all nuclear weapons. If the download button is available, you can do so and print these artworks anywhere you choose to add to the global call for nuclear disarmament.

In 2023, the nine global nuclear powers – the United States, China, Russia, France, UK, Israel, North Korea, India and Pakistan – are expanding their nuclear arsenals. We are entering a silent new arms race on which trillions of dollars are being spent. At this exact moment, there are open threats of thermonuclear war, as well as nuclear tests being carried out. The world is dangerously close to a nuclear disaster.

In 2017 ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), winners of the 2017 Peace Nobel Prize, established a landmark global agreement to ban nuclear weapons, known officially as the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons. It entered into force in January 2021 and has been signed by an overwhelming majority of the world’s nations.

Nuclear weapons have always been immoral; they are now illegal.

We know the countries that have yet to sign the nuclear ban treaty — the ones with the power to kill us all — will not be the first to join. In nations hijacked by their military-industrial complexes, we can’t expect change to come from the top. Unless we exert public pressure worldwide, we are likely to experience nuclear war in our lifetime.

The good news is we have done this in the past. Art and activism have pressured governments to dramatically reduce nuclear arsenals. An example of this was the 1 million protestors that gathered in Central Park in 1982, at the peak of the anti-nuclear movement. In 2020 there were approximately 13,400 nuclear weapons worldwide, compared with 63,632 in 1985, the high point for the global nuclear weapon stockpile.

ARTISTS AGAINST THE BOMB invites artists from all over the world to participate, and each participating artist then nominates two other artists to take part in hopes of sparking a chain reaction. Part of the inspiration for this project comes from Gerald Holtom, the designer of the original logo for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He chose not to trademark his creation so that it could be freely shared in support of the campaign, and that logo is now what we know as the Peace Sign.  

The poster series was first publicly introduced in Vienna at the MST1, first Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW. Afterward, it was presented at the Køs Museum in Copenhagen, on billboards across the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, at Festival Ceremonia in Mexico City, and a growing number of other venues. The closing project will be presented in November of 2023 at the MST2, at the Visitor Lobby inside the United Nations in New York City, and at a parallel exhibition at the Judd Foudantion to expand the project’s exposure. 


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SEAN
DOWER





In this poster, Sean Dower revisits the character of Zou Zou the cabaret clown and connects the philosophy and politics of the era of the original nuclear arms race to the present day. Dower discovered Zou Zou in 1993 when he found a videotape of a 1980’s performance by the clown on an Amsterdam Market. The performance made references to particular socio - political issues of the era , including the nuclear arms race and space travel. The central image on the poster features a 1993 photo of Dower impers onating Zou Zou, using props and make - up. The text is drawn from the lyrics of the gospel hymn, When the Saints Go Marching In , whose tune is played by Zou Zou on a prop during his performance. The lyrics of this early 1900s gospel hymn are inspired by the Book of Revelation, which warns of the final judgment or ‘end of days’ associated with the apocalypse. The text style references the democratic use of stencil s in political activism and counter culture.

Sean Dower (born 1965) began making live performances in the early 1980s as part of the UK ‘industrial’ music scene. He went on to study sculpture, film and photography and continues to incorporate sound and pe rformance into his practice . Dower has exhibited his work internationally since the early 1990s.