Tim Noble and Sue Webster pictured with: Fuckit! Fuckit! Fuckit!, 2012 (AK47, welded steel) 25 x 98 x 6 cm Photo: Bran Symondson
The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) London on until Sunday 30th September 2012
Mat Collishaw and Tim Noble and Sue Webster have lent their support to ‘AKA Peace’, an exhibition for which leading artists refashioned decommissioned AK-47 assault rifles into works of art.
The exhibition, which is curated by Jake Chapman, was conceived by photographer Bran Symondson following his experiences as a soldier in Afghanistan.
“Everyone knows the AK-47 and I thought, wouldn’t it be great to take this iconic weapon and turn it into a thing of intrigue and art, rather than one of fear,” explains Symondson. “You give a stick to a boy and he’ll make it into a gun. There is glamour in war and conflict. I don’t think [this project] glamorises [the weapon], I think it gets the message across that it can be used for something else. The fact that these AK-47s have been used, that they’ve come from war zones and now they are decommissioned…there’s 24 less AK-47s in the world doing damage.”
Other artists participating in ‘AKA Peace’ include Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, Jeremy Deller, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Gavin Turk, Stuart Semple, Sarah Lucas and Sam Taylor-Wood.
The exhibition will be followed by an auction of all of the works held by Phillips de Pury & Company.
The auction will be held at Howick Place, London SW1P 1BB on Thursday 4th October 2012. Proceeds of the sale will go to the Peace One Day charity.
