14-18 NOW launched

Today saw the launch of 14-18 Now WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, a major cultural programme taking place across the United Kingdom to mark the centenary of the First World War.

Working with cultural organisations across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, 14-18 NOW commissions large-scale special projects. These are selected to encourage people from every community to reflect on how the First World War has shaped today’s world and our attitudes to conflict now.

Highlights of the commissions so far include Blood by Lemn Sissay, a colloboration with Derry-Londonderry’s local communities to create new poetry, public art and performance; Shot at Dawn, in which award-winning photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews will present a series of images of the locations at which British, French and Belgian troops were executed for cowardice and desertion during the First World War; Memories of August 1914, by the world-renowned street theatre company Royal de Luxe, retells the story of the famous Liverpool Pals Battalions, the young men who volunteered alongside their next-door neighbours, family members and friends to fight for Britain on the battlefields of Europe; and 1914 Day-by-Day cartoons where over six weeks, twelve cartoonists and graphic artists will respond to the events that happened across the world as the world was heading to war one hundred years ago.

Please check out the website for more information on this exciting programme of events held to commemorate the First World War.