AAA presents Perpetual Peace Project workshop with Slought Foundation, a non-profit organisation which is based in Philadelphia, and engages the public's concern over cultural and socio-political changes.

“I can have peace for myself as long as I see it, but if I defined peace in that way, then it would never extend beyond anyone but myself. And that for me does not give me peace.”

“You can't think of peace as a personal thing because of this concept of justice. Whichever way you choose to think of it, how can we as people live our lives on whatever level of comfort when we know that others perhaps are not?”

Selected quotations from students at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, Pakistan.

The Perpetual Peace Project (perpetualpeaceproject.org) is an initiative that collectively reexamines and contemporizes Immanuel Kant's seminal essay from 1795 on reducing geopolitical conflict by inviting theorists, practitioners, and the public to revisit 21st century prospects for international peace. The project is a cultural initiative that broadly seeks to encourage discussion about what peace means in different contexts, and each public engagement (whether in a cultural, political, or pedagogical space) acts as more than a presentation but rather a chance to enact and expand on the project.

For this particular workshop, AAA invites interested members of the Hong Kong public to participate and engage in the meaning of peace with Aaron Levy of Slought Foundation and Melissa Lam, Hong Kong based independent curator. A selection of texts from AAA's collection will be used (both theoretical and exhibition-related), allowing the audience to peruse in advance in order to facilitate a more informed discussion. 

Texts explored
Mika Hannula, ‘Ethics of Listening or: Stop Stop Making Sense Sense’, 2008 Taipei Biennial Reader
Between artists: Paul Chan / Martha Rosler
Tarjama / Translation: Contemporary Art from the Middle East, Central Asia, and their Diasporas. 
Paul Chan, "What Art is and where it belongs," The return of religion and other Myths.
Tutubing Bakal/Tutubing Bakwit: A Collaborative Peace Helicopter Project
Danh Vo: Where the Lions Are
Buddha Enlightened Artists: Arpana CAUR, Taiga CHIBA, M.J. ENAS, Tomoyo IHAYA, Durga KAINTHOLA, Sanjay KUMAR, Sanjeev SINHA, Gagan VIJ

About the speaker
Aaron Levy is the founding Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Slought Foundation, which undertakes discursive projects that engage in contemporary debates about art, architecture, and social theory. Working across a variety of platforms and initiatives, Levy has explored topics such as democracy and disappointment, institutional memory, and the cultural politics of display.

Acknowledgments
The Perpetual Peace Project (perpetualpeaceproject.org) is an initiative of the Slought Foundation, in collaboration with the European Union National Institutes of Culture, the International Peace Institute, Syracuse University Humanities Center, and the United Nations University.  

Documentation of the event can be found: 
http://perpetualpeaceproject.org/initiatives/pedagogy-hongkong.php