A season of exhibitions and live events exploring ‘how the First World War has shaped today’s society’ is starting at Imperial War Museums – IWM – in the UK.
Running until spring 2019, Making a New World spans the centenary of the Armistice, a focus for considering the evolution of remembrance since November 1918.
The Tower of London Poppy installations, Wave and Weeping Window will also be displayed by IWM this autumn, before joining the Museum’s permanent collections.
On November 6, the IWM Remembrance Lecture –Why are we silent when conflict is loud? – will bring bring together artists, historians and psychologists to challenge and discuss the role organised silences play in 21st century remembrance.
IWM North in Manchester opens the season today (July 27) with Lest We Forget?, an exhibition charting a century of commemoration of the Great War, and the controversies that have at times accompanied it.
Exhibits at IWM North include John Singer Sargent’s painting ‘Gassed’, returning home after a two-year international tour, and an original ‘Joey’ puppet from the National Theatre production of War Horse. ‘Gassed’ was among works commissioned by the British Government from leading war artists for a Hall of Remembrance which was never built (Image © IWM ART 1460)
Four more exhibitions open at IWM London on September 21. They include:
African Soldier: a multi-screen installation by artist John Akomfrah, combining sound, historic footage and newly-created film to remember the millions of African men and women who served in the First World War
Renewal: Life after the First World War in Photographs highlights the ways in which lives, landscapes and national identities recovered, evolved and even flourished in the aftermath of the war.
I Was There: Room of Voice: 32 personal stories of the Armistice, from recordings in the IWM Sound Archive.
A series of live events will accompany the exhibitions. Among them is Contagion, a new dance piece exploring the Spanish Flu pandemic – which started to spread in the final months of the Great War. It’ll be performed by Shobana Jeyasingh Dance at IWM North on October 21.
IWM’s annual Short Film Festival (from October 20-25) will include a Making a New World award category, inviting filmmakers from around the world to respond to themes explored by the season.
‘Lest We Forget’ is at IWM North Manchester from 27 July 2018 – 24 February 2019. The exhibitions at IWM London run from 21 September 2018 – 31 March 2019.
For full details see Making a New World on the IWM website.
Source: Imperial War Museums – IWM
Images © IWM Q 63690 (Armistice celebrations); © IWM ART 1460 (‘Gassed’ – John Singer Sargent)
Posted by: CN Editorial Team