War/Peace
What’s your definition?
A week-long installation and participatory performance project June 25-June 29

War/Peace is a week-long collaboration between Ben Hersey and Seth Lepore and the larger Pioneer Valley community. The goal is to open up a guided workspace during the weekdays and nights (Monday-Friday), a “healing chamber” that community members can utilize to cultivate a better understanding of war and peace. Hersey and Lepore will also be interviewing community members throughout the week for half hour segments. The piece ends on Friday night with a performance in which Hersey and Lepore translate information gathered over the course of the week and present a 75 to 90 minute participatory performance reflecting the information gathered over the course of the week.

Community members will be given the opportunity to define what war and peace means, interact with what other people think and create visual representations of their ideas, feelings and thoughts that will become part of a transparent database. All the information documented will be immediately displayed and made available for viewing.

By the end of the week, the space will be transformed into a public collage of meanings and ideas leading to a greater potential for understanding. On Friday June 29th at 8:00 PM Hersey and Lepore will create a participatory performance that breaks the fourth wall between performer and audience. Instead they will become characters based on information gathered throughout the week and facilitate interactions between the participants that are simultaneously absurd, heartfelt and absorbing.

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Monday, June 25- Friday, June 29

Open installation hours: 10:00 AM -9:00 PM

Final Public Participatory Performance on Friday, June 29th at 8:00 PM