Exhibition Selections
Afrikan Futures Catalyst
Zoë Palmer
Anne-Marie Hanna
Courtney Koopman
Abbas Jamie
Paul Amayo
Faranaaz Rahbeeni
View: Project Overview, Poster
Cultivating social imaginaries toward flourishing peace
Jacob Israel Viadest Lara
Shauna Jin
Jordi Viader Guerrero
Manik Perera Gunatilleke
View: Project Statement, Poster
In Peace, We Believe
Kelly Lai
Jiahui Zhou
Andrea Ceccaroni
Ayako Fujiwara
Simon Gwinner
Carmen Escobar
View: Project Statement
Natural Intelligence: The Voice of Nature
Jose Echeverri
Ricardo Lapeira
Miguel Bello
Leticia Fernández
Manuel Llano
View: Poster
United Gamers
Diego Joseph Rengifo Del Castillo
Claudia Gómez Díaz
Oliver Jauregui
Raúl Pasco
Shirley Rodriguez
Elizabeth Matos
View: Poster
Noteworthy
The Near Peace Experience Threshold by United World
Eric Fuentes
Laura Maceira
View: Poster
Nura: Garden of Light
Samista Jugwanth
View: Poster
Political Atmosphere
Felix Lenz
View: Poster
The Utopia Compass
Viraj Joshi
Nadia Piet
View: Poster
Zeal: Diplomacy for Everyone
Raghavendra Kandala
Jeffrey Brown
Sahar Ghaheri
Pardis Shafafi
We are currently working on uploading all content to the UN site.
Please stay tuned here and our social media channels for official announcements.
The United Nations is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. To mark this special occasion, the Innovation Cell of the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and Design Futures Initiative (DFI) are calling for designers and futurists to create speculative artifacts that evoke novel futures of how to better sustain peace.
Under the theme “Futuring Peace”, we are seeking creative speculative pieces on conflict prevention, peace mediation, and peacebuilding. These concepts should take into account the complex, long term nature of reducing the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict using diplomatic action, regional and international partnerships, and supporting local peace initiatives. Submissions with a focus on the meaningful participation of women in sustaining peace and inclusion at large are particularly welcome.
Today’s conflicts cause immense human suffering; they are more complex and more difficult to resolve than at any other time in human history. A surge in violent conflict in recent years has drastically increased human casualties, displacement, and humanitarian needs, often reversing hard-fought political, human rights and development gains and putting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at risk.
The impact of climate change, new pressures from digital technologies, the virality of hate speech, and disinformation are further complicating conflict environments. Moreover, the geopolitical context has become less conducive to the settlement of disputes, as deep divisions amongst major powers have led to paralysis on catastrophic wars and contributed to a steadily declining faith in multilateralism.
The purpose of the “Futuring Peace” initiative is to look ahead and think about new solutions and concrete tools addressing the rapidly shifting global landscape.
Example topics to explore include:
What new innovative tools could make UN diplomacy and peace processes more effective and sustainable?
How might we expand inclusive and meaningful participation of women sustaining peace?
What new ways might advance post-conflict peacebuilding and recovery?
How might emerging technologies and methods help to prevent armed conflict around the world?
How will peace ceremonies and spaces for peace negotiations look like in the future?
Other speculations that focus on new approaches, methods, tools and cross-cutting means with a view to better violent conflict and sustain peace.
REQUIREMENTS
This is an initiative based on voluntary contributions by designers and futurists, whose work will be prominently showcased in a digital exhibition of the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. Designers are invited to interpret and present their own vision of what peacebuilding could be, based on the history of the UN’s actions, its current peace efforts, and imagined futures.
Contributors are asked to submit speculative pieces in digital form, including videos, posters, and other kinds of documentable work
A description of the speculative piece (up to 500 words) should accompany the submission
Up to two (2) speculative pieces may be submitted
Group submissions by multiple designers or collectives are also permitted
Multiple formats may be submitted per idea (e.g. images, videos, audio)
Preferred format is A3 (297mm x 420mm) or 11in x 17in (US Tabloid)
Videos/Audio may not exceed 5min
SELECTION PROCESS
An international jury composed of two representatives each of the UN and DFI, plus one external judge, will select the five (5) best submissions.
DFI will help prepare the selected submissions to be showcased on the exhibition website of the United Nations and in the forthcoming Medium Publication “Futuring Peace”. The exhibited works will be covered by international media reporting.
GRADING CRITERIA
Theme Fit - Does your submission fit within the theme of “Futuring Peace” and exhibit ideas related to conflict prevention, peacemaking or peacebuilding.
International Diversity - It is our priority to showcase work submitted from around the world to exemplify the diversity and talent from all parts of our planet.
Originality - Is your submission a creative and novel perspective or topic? Does it challenge the status quo of what we typically consider when we think about preventing or ending violent conflict? Is the image and message a profound and provocative statement that both educates us on visions of peace but also teaches us about possibilities we may not have seen before?
Powerful & Accessible Message - From a visual and content perspective, how mature and refined is the idea and message? Does it show attention to key details/language and imagery so that international audiences can easily understand it?
IMPORTANT DATES
Submissions Starting: 1 August 2020
Deadline: 31 August 2020 midnight (US EST)
Winners Notified by: 14 September 2020 via futuring.peace@gmail.com
Exhibition Opening: 21 September 2020
Submissions have been chosen! We are currently working on uploading all content to the UN site. Please stay tuned here and our social media channels for official announcements.
Futuring Peace Virtual Events
Z-TOPIA - Futuring Peace Edition - Sunday Aug 23 11aPST/2pEST
Guests:
Martin Waehlisch - Founding member of the Innovation Cell" UN DPPA
Erol Yayboke - Deputy Director and Senior Fellow at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Liz Hume - Vice President Alliance for Peacebuilding
We are opening a zoom meeting for anyone to speak with the UN DPPA Innovation cell founder, Martin Washlisch. Bring your questions and ideas. If you need feedback, this is not a crit but we can surely offer a sounding board but will need to impose a limited time to spend on each topic/project.
>> Video
Ask Me Anything Zoom session w/ Martin Waehlisch - Monday 24 Aug 6pPST/9pEST
We are opening a zoom meeting for anyone to speak with the UN DPPA Innovation cell founder, Martin Washlisch. Bring your questions and ideas. If you need feedback, this is not a crit but we can surely offer a sounding board but will need to impose a limited time to spend on each topic/project.
>> Video
Questions? email futuring.peace@gmail.com