Kostis Velonis
Technologies of Peace: Art and Transition in Contemporary Europe (1989 – 2026)

Artist Kostis Velonis is participating in Technologies of Peace: Art and Transition in Contemporary Europe (1989–2026) in The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), a speculative exhibition bringing together researchers, artists, thinkers, and curators from across Europe – including Marina Abramović, Petrit Halilaj, Goshka Macuga, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Claudia Pagès Rabal, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Indrė Šerpytytė, and Slavs and Tatars – to critically examine one of the defining challenges of our time: the question of peace.

At a moment marked by ongoing wars, geopolitical instability, social fragmentation, and the constant circulation of conflict through media and culture, conflict is frequently aestheticised, analysed, and consumed. Peace, by contrast, is rarely afforded the same sustained attention. Yet it is precisely now amid escalating global tensions and deepening uncertainty that the complexity, fragility, and transformative potential of peace are asserted.

Drawing on artistic, political, and social perspectives across Europe, including Greece, Poland, Romania, Spain, Cyprus, Portugal, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, UK, Kosovo, and Croatia, the exhibition features work by artists including Marina Abramović, Petrit Halilaj, Goshka Macuga, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Claudia Pagès Rabal, Christodoulos Panayiotou,

Indrė Šerpytytė, Slavs and Tatars. It considers peace not as a fixed condition or end point, but as an active process of negotiation, maintenance, and collective imagination. Within the context of the island of Ireland’s recent history, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 offers a powerful example of a landmark manifestation of peace. It is an ongoing process, one that continues to require care, compromise, and vigilance.

The exhibition uses five chapters to examine the outcomes and approaches: Technologies of Peace, Language & Translation, Trauma & Reverberation, Ecology & Architecture, and Imagining Futures. It illustrates how cultural expression can act as a powerful tool for civic repair; and presents a hopeful and constructive counter-narrative, reaffirming Europe’s potential for critical reflection, solidarity, and transformation through the arts.

Participating artists include: Marina Abramović, Ileana Arnaoutou, Nika Autor, Aleksandar Battista Ilić in collaboration with Ivana Keser and Tomislav Gotovac, Alán Carrasco, Jasmina Cibic, Lana Čmajčanin, Fábio Colaço, Phil Collins, Rita Duffy, Petros Efstathiadis, Andrea Geyer, Igor Grubić, Petrit Halilaj, Anthony Haughey, Saskia Holmkvist, Sanja Iveković, Dragana Jurišić, Šejla Kamerić, Barbara Knežević, Siniša Labrović, Nicolas Lambouris, Latent Community, Manolis D. Lemos, Goshka Macuga, Emily McFarland, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Petros Moris, Locky Morris, Vlad Nancă, Eleni Odysseos, Claudia Pagès Rabal, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Karol Radziszewski, María Ruido, Edita Schubert, Driton Selmani, Indrė Šerpytytė, Slavs and Tatars, Mladen Stilinović, Velonis, and Vangelis Vlahos.