You may say I'm a dreamer...

My collage from 9 October 2019

If we are to imagine peace, what would this look like?

Such a big idea, but it starts with a “what if?” What if we could build a lighthouse that streams the impulse of peace into the world for all to see. What would this look like?

It was nearly 30 years after John Lennon’s death before such a lighthouse with all the technology of the 21st century meant that it could be built. Yet this idea was first conceived in the 1960s when John Lennon invited the avant garden artist Yoko Ono to his house to talk about her conceptual idea of a light house “constructed of light from prisms, which exists in accordance with the changes of the day”.

Sometimes ideas are so big that they need time to come to fruition. But along the way you keep creating other projects which slowly but surely build foundations for such big ideas oto flourish.

In the 1960s artists staged “happenings” which became precursors to performance and installation art. These happenings were in turn built upon the idea of the artists salon made famous by Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo in Paris in the early 1900s where artists, poets philosophers and the intelligentsia gathered to discuss art, politics and ideas.

These days artists might share a studio or gather in cafes to share their ideas. Galleries host artists talks in conjunction with current exhibitions, or experiential workshops. Some have symposiums or performances of music, poetry and visual art. Events and spaces which foster discussions, a sharing of ideas, a place where dreams can be imagined into action.

In the spirit of this long tradition, I will be staging an Imagine Peace happening on Friday 9th October at 6pn ADST in conjunction with my exhibition Fire & Ice about Iceland. This happening coincides with the annual lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower on Videy Island, near Reykjavik to commemorate John Lennon’s birthday.

A year ago I was in Iceland for my artist residency at Skagatrönd and I travelled by bus to Reykjavik for the night with two other artists so that we could attend this memorable event. It had such an emotional impact on me, that I wanted to bring the spirit of this to Murwillumbah as well. Streaming the impulse of peace into the world in this crazy time.

Peace within, peace without. To get a feel for the event, go to the Imagine Peace Tower site.

Imagine all the people,

livin’ life in peace

You

You may say I’m dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope one day you’ll join us

And the world will be as one.

The concept of a light house explained by Yoko Ono from The Imagine Peace video .