Art and peace

  . This exciting opportunity stimulated the development of a bigger idea that combines Oberg’s work for peace and art photography with a focus on the Chinese-initiated Silk Belt and Road Initiative, the largest and most visionary in today’s world in terms of linking people and cultures into cooperation rather than confrontation. In various ways the project – with the Road as metaphor – stretches from Shanghai over Myanmar, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Iran and Syria to Venice and seeks to promote cooperation and peace in the process. The “Silk PeaceArt Road” project is made public at this very early development stage where no funding is secured to encourage you to share co-operative ideas, contacts you may have in China and along the Silk Road or to potential partners, artists, sponsors, art institutions, etc. The project integrates peace work and art photography and it is the first cooperative endeavour by TFF and...

  Under this menu, we will gather a broad variety of visual materials which highlights the relationships between violence, art and peace. Again, the materials will not be listed in terms of priorities and won’t be categorized. It’s about the visitor’s own exploration of the diversity. Jan Oberg’s photo series from Aleppo, Syria From a visit to Aleppo when it was liberated in mid-December 2016. Jan Oberg’s photos from Somaliland 2014   More – much more – to come as time goes by.

By Mark LeVine • Regime sponsorship of the arts could hurt artistic freedom of expression. Last month’s purchase of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, Salvator Mundi, for $450m by an associate of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) rocked the art world. It also called into question an already suspect anti-corruption drive launched by bin Salman in the weeks before the purchase. MBS’ earlier purchases of a $500 million yacht and a $300 million French chateau haven’t helped his cause either. Whatever bin Salman’s aesthetic proclivities, it’s not surprising that Saudi leaders are attempting to use art to signal a major change in the country’s culture and, less so, politics. In the past few months, Saudi authorities have permitted concerts and reopened cinemas, pledged to allow women to attend sporting events and even drive. Via aljazeera.com All this, along with the recent announcement of the creation of a new art institute under...

• Paul McCartney – Sir Paul James Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool on June 18th 1942. In 1956, Paul writes his first song, I Lost My Little Girl. For his complete biography (up to 2003), click here. His official website is PaulMcCartney.com Paul McCartney and TFF’s founder Jan Oberg met each other in Liverpool in 2001 through Paul’s school friend and TFF Associate, Jonathan Power. This is how Jan remembers his meeting with Paul – which is where you may also read Paul’s poem for peace, written exclusively for TFF and see the Beatles record from 1961 that he signed for Christina. Sir Paul accepted to become an Honorary Friend of TFF in 2002 and we made it public at the event of his concerts in Copenhagen and Stockholm in early May 2003.   Address mplcommunications, London Sir Paul’s official homepage Photographer Mark Seliger © 2002 MPL Communications Ltd/Inc...