May 27, 2003, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The War Room, an anti-war art installation by William T. Ayton, launched online at:


http://www.warroomproject.org/


WHAT IS THE WAR ROOM PROJECT?

The War Room online installation depicts fundamental aspects of war: Warriors, Victims, Witnesses, and Aftermath through art created by British painter William T. Ayton. Unlike conventional war rooms designed to devise military strategy, Ayton’s War Room forces a stark confrontation with the brutal realities and consequences of war.
" When the tapestry of Picasso's Guernica was covered up for a Colin Powell speech at the U.N. (February 2003)," said Ayton, "I knew I had to do something. The War Room project is my response." The War Room is one artist's attempt to:

*promote peace by portraying the futility, brutality, and human dimension of war;
*offset media images of war that emphasize military prowess and precision, hyper-nationalistic glory, and missionary zeal, yet downplay the human cost of war;
*explore human experience of war as warriors, victims, and/or witnesses; and
*inspire viewers to reach their own conclusions about war and our respective roles in it.


You can’t look away. Intense images engulf the viewer compelling us to face where we each stand in the war room. We identify with the powerful and ravaged figures portrayed; we see ourselves as the warriors, victims, and witnesses; and we recognize the bleak desolation and alienation of the aftermath that we all experience in our daily struggle to make sense of these turbulent times.


WHO WILL THE WAR ROOM REACH?

The virtual installation launched this week at www.warroomproject.org will reach viewers anywhere in the world with online access. The media-numbed public has been effectively sheltered from provocative art addressing vital questions about war and peace, secuirty and liberty, racism and tolerance. The War Room intends to puncture this invisible shield by reaching out to audiences and taking a stand for peace and tolerance through art.


ABOUT WILLIAM T. AYTON

Acclaimed British painter William T. Ayton has exhibited extensively across Europe and North America, with shows at the U.N. headquarters in Geneva, the U.S. Senate Rotunda in Washington, D.C., and World EXPO ’92 in Seville. Ayton is best known for the international, 11-city tour of his work inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was featured on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). In the late 1990s, he was a recipient of New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) fiscal sponsorship for the North American tour of his human rights exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the UDHR. His drawings and illustrations have been featured in The New York Times, Paris/Atlantic, The Citizen, and many other journals. After living and working in Edinburgh, Madrid, Paris, and New York City, Mr. Ayton has settled in upstate New York with his family.

GO TO THE WAR ROOM. YOU CAN'T LOOK AWAY.

http://www.warroomproject.org/

for more information, contact: press@warroomproject.org