The cycle that needs to be broken

January 31, 2006

The cycle that needs to be broken

The manifestation of his dream for a better world where races and cultures learn to live side by side in coexistence has affected and inspired millions of people world-wide.

Now the curator of the socio-political art poster exhibition Coexistence is bringing his creation to Auckland.

Israel's Raphie Etgar arrives in New Zealand on February 5 to curate Coexistence, the 44-piece exhibition of giant, thought-provoking posters featuring compelling images by international artists.

The free-entry outdoor exhibition in Britomart opens on February 11 and is being brought to Auckland by the Heart of the City, business and lobby group for the CBD. Through a local competition, New Zealand artists have an opportunity to contribute to the exhibition.

Etgar, the founder of the unique Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem, initiated the exhibition in 2000 "motivated by the growing need to make it possible for more and more people to acknowledge the right of others to exist and to think differently".

"Coexistence is more than a concept and more than a popular idea for our new global culture," Etgar says. "It involves changing our lives and changing the way we think. Coexistence is not necessarily learning to live together but perhaps learning to live side by side."

A former leading poster artist in Israel and in-house artist for one of Germany's most prestigious publishing houses, Etgar is deeply committed to promoting greater peace and justice in the world.

"What is happening today all over the world is a cycle that cannot be broken without brave and inspired leaders who must solve the problems with generosity, mutual understanding and non-violent thinking."

EDITORS: Raphie Etgar is in New Zealand from February 5 for three weeks. He is available for media interviews between February 6 and February 11. He will also be available for radio interviews from February 11 to February 16. Please talk to Pead PR (details below).

You can also join Raphie on Thursday 16 February, 7pm, in Auckland Museums APEC Room as he discusses his work and motivations.

About Coexistence in Auckland: COEXISTENCE comprises three meter by five meter posters accompanied by text-panel quotes from leading thinkers, writers, philosophers and artists and designed to promote dialogue leading to understanding and peaceful co-existence within communities.

The exhibition is being brought to Auckland by Heart of the City, business and lobby group for the CBD. The international exhibition has been shown in 22 of the globe's leading cities including Jerusalem, Belfast, Sarajevo, Berlin, Zurich, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Cape Town, Prague, St. Petersburg, Vienna and Washington DC.

COEXISTENCE is being held outdoors in the Britomart Heritage Precinct from February 11 to March 5, 2006. Some notable people associated with COEXISTENCE through their quotes are Nelson Mandela, Jean-Paul Sartre, the Dalai Lama, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein and John Lennon. New Zealand works are part of the exhibition.

And for Auckland's visit, renowned Kiwi musician Dave Dobbyn will front a team of other well-known Kiwi ambassadors, including Pansy Wong, Madeleine Sami and Peter Urlich.

About The Museum on the Seam: The Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem is a unique museum in Israel, displaying contemporary art that deals with different aspects of the socio-political reality. Through the works of artists from Israel and abroad, who respond to the stress and tension between and within groups, the museum invites the visitors to examine the degree of influence of the social environment on the individual and vice versa. Between the local and the universal, between pluralism and extreme ideologies, the message of The Museum calls for listening and discussion, for accepting the other and those different from us and respect for our fellow man and his liberty.

http://www.coexistence.art.museum/eng/main.htm

ENDS

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