Come along to Edinburgh Friends Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, 15 May 6:30 – 8pm (Doors open 6:10pm) and hear about Kate Ive’s engaging design for a Memorial that will commemorate the resistance of conscientious objectors and all who oppose wars, past, present and future. And find out how you can be involved in creating parts of the sculpture and supporting this project.
The Opposing War Memorial will create a space for reflection on the role of individual conscience and be a counterpoint, whose time has come, to the many war memorials in Princes St Gardens and across Scotland and the UK.
A committee representing civil society groups and peace campaigns petitioned the City of Edinburgh and were offered a site in Princes St Gardens, a World Heritage site that is visited by millions of people. We held a competition and invited four artists to engage with descendants of COs, academics and learners on the Legacies of Resistance to the First World War adult education course, and to submit designs.
Kate Ive’s winning design will pay tribute to First World War COs whose resistance laid the groundwork for a wider peace movement that continues to this day and will continue into the future. Kate will unveil a maquette at the launch. We hope the finished sculpture will be installed by April next year, the centenary of the end of the First World War for COs who were imprisoned until April 1918.
Now we need to raise funds for the next phase of the project – completion of technical drawings – and submit these for approval by City committees, and ultimately for the sculpture to be created and installed. Even if you cannot come to the event you can Donate to the project here. Be sure to put Opposing War Memorial in the Purpose Field!
Kate Ive will talk about her process in creating the design, and how you can be involved in creating a beautiful and surprising sculpture. Come meet the artist and give your input.
6:30 – 8pm. Doors open 6:10pm for a cup of Tea.
Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, EH1 2JL
Please Register to attend at: opposing-war-design-launch.eventbrite.com
Registration is not required but it helps us to know how many to plan for.
Organised by the Opposing War Memorial Committee
For more info email us here.
This event follows the annual International Conscientious Objectors Day Vigil from 5:30 – 6:30pm at the Foot of the Mound, by the National Gallery, off Princes St where we will read the names and hear stories of First World War COs and collect signatures on post cards supporting COs in prison today in South Korea. All welcome.
It is part of a series of events on Conscientious Objection organised in association with WEA Scotland, Great War Dundee and Abertay Historical Society.
Opposing War Committee partners:
A committee representing civil society groups and peace campaigns petitioned the City of Edinburgh and were offered a site in Princes St Gardens, a World Heritage site that is visited by millions of people. 