The "State Museum for Franconia" at Marienberg Fortress is showing the exhibition "pics4peace - Youth for Democracy and Peace" from March 9 to April 15, 2018. The tense interplay of historical art and cultural objects with modern art, which deals with the past and the future, can be felt by every visitor in the museum. Hardly any of them are not touched when they leave the exhibition. At least, that's how everyone who's been there so far has felt. Impressive!

The aim of pics4peace is to get young people more enthusiastic about democracy, to give them a platform for expression and communication through art and modern media, and to make their wishes for the future heard by the relevant decision-makers.

Preparation in the workshop for the exhibition - The "pittura oscura" Method

The Berlin artist Winfried Muthesius met, as already described in the diary, in the run-up with young artists of the faculty of Design of the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt his method of "pittura oscura", in which layer is stored over layer. Not only different techniques, such as painting and photography are used, but also layers of time and meaning are superimposed. The students' pittura oscura are shown in tension with three skull paintings by Muthesius created with regard to Würzburg's history, which unfolds particularly effectively in the art-historical environment of the museum.

Past, Present, Future - About the "pics4peace" of the young artists

Inspired by historical places in Würzburg, nine young artists created works that they then took to these places and related to them. They captured the tension between artwork and place in a photograph. Printed out, this in turn served as a template for further artistic exploration, for example by painting over it. Finally, the work was again reproduced photographically. In this way, the creative process condensed the past, challenges of the present and perspectives for the future into one work of art.

The response is super! Also with the young people. Their topics range from fake and fact, to what constitutes the value of life and norm debates, to women's rights, female circumcision, environmental and animal protection, to the arms trade, causes of war, exclusion and the question of how we can keep the peace.

Mayor considers pics4peace to be outstanding

Christian Schuchardt, Mayor of Würzburg, says

pics4peace is an outstanding project and a new building block in the city's culture of remembrance.

and further

 "It is remarkable what results the young artists have developed in different techniques from their preoccupation with peace and democracy. They show that art dissolves time and meaning and makes the past tangible again, so that we can learn from mistakes and shape the future in a purposeful way. Viewers just have to get involved and, in dialogue with the artists, leave the superficial way of looking at things behind for a deeper insight. I very much hope that many young people will take part in the project online and that it will be carried from Würzburg to other Bavarian communities."

Dr. Erich Schneider, Director of State Museum, supported pics4peace from the very beginning. For him,

"this exhibition (...) is already a foretaste of the Future Workshop that will one day take place at the Museum für Franken. After all, the museum is supposed to be a place where people deal with the past, but where they can also actively help shape the future."