Questioning xenophobia, militarisation and war through art
Screening of Maria Niro’s film The Art of Un-War and discussion of new book Interrogative Design.
Introduction
What is the role of artistic practice in making sense of increasing xenophobia, militarization and war today? How do we engage critically with media arts and design to interrogate inequalities and injustice, while activating the public sphere and enriching public discourse?
These are the questions posed in the new book Interrogative Design, which features the work of renowned artist and designer Krzysztof Wodiczko, and reflective essays by others inspired by his extraordinary public artworks and media/design interventions. At the event, artist Pia Lindman, Prof. Nitin Sawhney (Aalto University), and book editor Ian Wojtowicz (joining online) will share their perspectives on art, xenophobia, militarization, and war – and consider these themes also in their own artistic and pedagogical practices.
Following this discussion, we will screen the award-winning film The Art of Un-War, a powerful documentary about the life and art of Krzysztof Wodiczko, directed by filmmaker Maria Niro who will join us online for a talk-back discussion.
About Maria Niro’s award-winning Film “Art of Un-War”
Maria Niro’s award-winning documentary, The Art of Un-War, explores how internationally acclaimed artist Krzysztof Wodiczko has spent a lifetime using his art to denounce war and militarization. The film follows Wodiczko’s trajectory from his birth in Warsaw during World War II and his expulsion from Poland by the communist regime to his present-day artistic interventions. Combining sculptural elements with technology, Wodiczko’s projects serve as public interventions, disrupting the valorization of state-sanctioned aggression. Through archival footage and new documentation, the film showcases Wodiczko’s site-specific projections, which since the 1980s have illuminated the facades of office and government buildings. Over time, these works have expanded to incorporate recordings of personal stories from war veterans, refugees, and immigrants, their likenesses projected onto war memorials — often animating revered historical figures with contemporary voices. Niro documents many of Wodiczko’s major works, including his iconic The Hiroshima Projection (1999), projected onto the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, Japan; and his Interrogative Design projects such as The Homeless Vehicle Project (1988–1989), created in collaboration with homeless communities in Montreal, Philadelphia, and New York City; and his ongoing proposal to transform Paris’s Arc de Triomphe—historically a monument to war—into a temporary site for peace activism. (Maria Niro, 2022, 63 minutes).
Event schedule
16:00 – 16:10 Welcome by Prof. Anita Seppä and Prof. Daniel Peltz
16:10 – 16:50 Presentations by Pia Lindman, Nitin Sawhney and Ian Wojtowicz (online)
16:50 – 17:05 QA with panelists & audience (15 min)
17:05 – 17:15 short break
17:15 – 18:20 The Art of Un-War film screening
18:20 – 19:00 QA with filmmaker Maria Niro (online) + wrap-up of event (25 min)
Another parallel event will be held at the Aalto University on Wednesday, March 5th, 13:15 – 16:00 at Marsio Cinema, Aalto University. It is hosted by Matti Niinimäki and Oliver Kalleinen, Aalto Media Lab, Department of Art and Media at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University.
About Interrogative Design
The new book Interrogative Design (MIT Press, December 2024), ed. By Ian Wojtowicz, is a timely collection that shows how design can animate public space and catalyze democratic processes through vital discussion and public engagement.
“Design thinking” emphasizes the production of solutions after a period of research. By contrast, interrogative design focuses on activating the public sphere and enriching public discourse through the production of questions. A notable contribution to the fields of critical design and media art, interrogative design traces its development to Krzysztof Wodiczko and his public art projects in the 1990s, documented in his influential book Critical Vehicles (MIT Press, 1999).
Interrogative Design showcases this lineage with new writing from Wodiczko and a host of contributions from diverse and influential practitioners. This new collectively-produced volume highlights the dynamism of interrogative design as it is practiced today.
Bios of Speakers
Pia Lindman works with performance art, healing-as-art, installation, and microbes. In 2024 Lindman participated in the 60th Venice Biennale with “The Pleasures We Choose”/Finnish Pavilion. While Professor at Aalto University (2013-18), she was director of Biophilia.Teaching at MIT, she was artist-in-residence with the Humanoid Robotics Group at CSAIL (2004-07). Currently, Lindman is commissioned to create artwork for the EU Capital of Culture Trenčín, Slovakia, 2026. A result of many years of investigation into the body and its place within political and cultural spaces, Lindman’s work has moved beyond the human body to multiple realms of organic and inorganic life.
Nitin Sawhney is a documentary filmmaker and Professor of Practice in the Department of Computer Science at Aalto University, leading the CRAI-CIS research group. Previously, he taught at the Media Studies program at The New School and the MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT). Working at the intersection of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), responsible AI, and participatory design research, he examines the critical role of technology, civic agency, and social justice in society and crisis contexts. He has co-curated exhibitions and co-directed documentaries in Gaza and Guatemala, focusing on creative resistance and historical memory in conditions of war and conflict.
Ian Wojtowicz is a Vancouver-based artist who uses data visualization and participatory design to create discussions around cultural change. Themes of futurism, historical dissensus, editing, and repair run through his work. Wojtowicz has shown projects and lectured throughout North America, and in China and Europe, and has shown projects in Wired Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, and on PBS and Discovery channels. He holds a degree in the MIT Program in Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT), and is editor of the new book Interrogative Design on Polish-American artist Krzysztof Wodiczko’s influential design philosophy. Wojtowicz is founder of Graphite Design Labs, a creative software company focused on new approaches to reading and drawing.
Maria Niro is a New York City-based artist and award-winning filmmaker who creates films that engage and inspire viewers to create social change. She is a member of New Day Films, a filmmaker-run distribution company providing social issue documentaries to educators since 1971. Niro’s work crosses several disciplines: film, video, photography, and sound. Her moving image work includes long-form documentaries and experimental short films. Her award-winning documentary The Art of Un-War (2022) which chronicles the life and political work of the internationally acclaimed artist Krzysztof Wodiczko has been broadcasted on TV Ontario (TVO) and has screened at festivals and museums worldwide.
Daniel Peltz is an artist working with long-term public engagements, performances and media installations. From 2004-2020 Peltz served as Professor of Film and Video at the Rhode Island School of Design in the U.S. Since 2020, Peltz serves as Professor of Time and Space Arts with a specialization in Site and Situation Specific Art at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Uniarts Helsinki. Growing out of a 2007 artistic-research Fulbright term in Sweden, Peltz co-founded the artist-run, long-term, place-based research project Rejmyre Art Lab’s Center for Peripheral Studies in the glass-factory town of Rejmyre, Sweden that continues to be central to his art and curatorial practices.
Anita Seppä is Professor of Art History and Art Theory at the Research Institute of the Uniarts Helsinki, Finland. Earlier, she has acted as Professor of Artistic Research and as Professor of Visual Culture Studies. Seppä has published several textbooks, academic articles and collections of articles both in Finland and internationally. She was the co-founder and commissioner of Uniarts Helsinki’s joint international debut, the 1st and 2nd Research Pavilions at the Venice Biennale in 2015 and 2017.
The event is hosted by Prof. Anita Seppä (Research Institute) and Prof. Daniel Peltz (Academy of the Fine Arts) at Uniarts Helsinki, and the “Critical Academy” network of the Uniarts Helsinki.
Registration
Please register for the event by March 2nd, 2025.
Contact information
-
Anita Seppä
- Professor, Tutkimusinstituutti, Research Institute
- +358413135564
- anita.seppa@uniarts.fi
Introduction
What is the role of artistic practice in making sense of increasing xenophobia, militarization and war today? How do we engage critically with media arts and design to interrogate inequalities and injustice, while activating the public sphere and enriching public discourse?
These are the questions posed in the new book Interrogative Design, which features the work of renowned artist and designer Krzysztof Wodiczko, and reflective essays by others inspired by his extraordinary public artworks and media/design interventions. At the event, artist Pia Lindman, Prof. Nitin Sawhney (Aalto University), and book editor Ian Wojtowicz (joining online) will share their perspectives on art, xenophobia, militarization, and war – and consider these themes also in their own artistic and pedagogical practices.
Following this discussion, we will screen the award-winning film The Art of Un-War, a powerful documentary about the life and art of Krzysztof Wodiczko, directed by filmmaker Maria Niro who will join us online for a talk-back discussion.
About Maria Niro’s award-winning Film “Art of Un-War”
Maria Niro’s award-winning documentary, The Art of Un-War, explores how internationally acclaimed artist Krzysztof Wodiczko has spent a lifetime using his art to denounce war and militarization. The film follows Wodiczko’s trajectory from his birth in Warsaw during World War II and his expulsion from Poland by the communist regime to his present-day artistic interventions. Combining sculptural elements with technology, Wodiczko’s projects serve as public interventions, disrupting the valorization of state-sanctioned aggression. Through archival footage and new documentation, the film showcases Wodiczko’s site-specific projections, which since the 1980s have illuminated the facades of office and government buildings. Over time, these works have expanded to incorporate recordings of personal stories from war veterans, refugees, and immigrants, their likenesses projected onto war memorials — often animating revered historical figures with contemporary voices. Niro documents many of Wodiczko’s major works, including his iconic The Hiroshima Projection (1999), projected onto the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, Japan; and his Interrogative Design projects such as The Homeless Vehicle Project (1988–1989), created in collaboration with homeless communities in Montreal, Philadelphia, and New York City; and his ongoing proposal to transform Paris’s Arc de Triomphe—historically a monument to war—into a temporary site for peace activism. (Maria Niro, 2022, 63 minutes).
Event schedule
16:00 – 16:10 Welcome by Prof. Anita Seppä and Prof. Daniel Peltz
16:10 – 16:50 Presentations by Pia Lindman, Nitin Sawhney and Ian Wojtowicz (online)
16:50 – 17:05 QA with panelists & audience (15 min)
17:05 – 17:15 short break
17:15 – 18:20 The Art of Un-War film screening
18:20 – 19:00 QA with filmmaker Maria Niro (online) + wrap-up of event (25 min)
Another parallel event will be held at the Aalto University on Wednesday, March 5th, 13:15 – 16:00 at Marsio Cinema, Aalto University. It is hosted by Matti Niinimäki and Oliver Kalleinen, Aalto Media Lab, Department of Art and Media at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University.
About Interrogative Design
The new book Interrogative Design (MIT Press, December 2024), ed. By Ian Wojtowicz, is a timely collection that shows how design can animate public space and catalyze democratic processes through vital discussion and public engagement.
“Design thinking” emphasizes the production of solutions after a period of research. By contrast, interrogative design focuses on activating the public sphere and enriching public discourse through the production of questions. A notable contribution to the fields of critical design and media art, interrogative design traces its development to Krzysztof Wodiczko and his public art projects in the 1990s, documented in his influential book Critical Vehicles (MIT Press, 1999).
Interrogative Design showcases this lineage with new writing from Wodiczko and a host of contributions from diverse and influential practitioners. This new collectively-produced volume highlights the dynamism of interrogative design as it is practiced today.
Bios of Speakers
Pia Lindman works with performance art, healing-as-art, installation, and microbes. In 2024 Lindman participated in the 60th Venice Biennale with “The Pleasures We Choose”/Finnish Pavilion. While Professor at Aalto University (2013-18), she was director of Biophilia.Teaching at MIT, she was artist-in-residence with the Humanoid Robotics Group at CSAIL (2004-07). Currently, Lindman is commissioned to create artwork for the EU Capital of Culture Trenčín, Slovakia, 2026. A result of many years of investigation into the body and its place within political and cultural spaces, Lindman’s work has moved beyond the human body to multiple realms of organic and inorganic life.
Nitin Sawhney is a documentary filmmaker and Professor of Practice in the Department of Computer Science at Aalto University, leading the CRAI-CIS research group. Previously, he taught at the Media Studies program at The New School and the MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT). Working at the intersection of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), responsible AI, and participatory design research, he examines the critical role of technology, civic agency, and social justice in society and crisis contexts. He has co-curated exhibitions and co-directed documentaries in Gaza and Guatemala, focusing on creative resistance and historical memory in conditions of war and conflict.
Ian Wojtowicz is a Vancouver-based artist who uses data visualization and participatory design to create discussions around cultural change. Themes of futurism, historical dissensus, editing, and repair run through his work. Wojtowicz has shown projects and lectured throughout North America, and in China and Europe, and has shown projects in Wired Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, and on PBS and Discovery channels. He holds a degree in the MIT Program in Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT), and is editor of the new book Interrogative Design on Polish-American artist Krzysztof Wodiczko’s influential design philosophy. Wojtowicz is founder of Graphite Design Labs, a creative software company focused on new approaches to reading and drawing.
Maria Niro is a New York City-based artist and award-winning filmmaker who creates films that engage and inspire viewers to create social change. She is a member of New Day Films, a filmmaker-run distribution company providing social issue documentaries to educators since 1971. Niro’s work crosses several disciplines: film, video, photography, and sound. Her moving image work includes long-form documentaries and experimental short films. Her award-winning documentary The Art of Un-War (2022) which chronicles the life and political work of the internationally acclaimed artist Krzysztof Wodiczko has been broadcasted on TV Ontario (TVO) and has screened at festivals and museums worldwide.
Daniel Peltz is an artist working with long-term public engagements, performances and media installations. From 2004-2020 Peltz served as Professor of Film and Video at the Rhode Island School of Design in the U.S. Since 2020, Peltz serves as Professor of Time and Space Arts with a specialization in Site and Situation Specific Art at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Uniarts Helsinki. Growing out of a 2007 artistic-research Fulbright term in Sweden, Peltz co-founded the artist-run, long-term, place-based research project Rejmyre Art Lab’s Center for Peripheral Studies in the glass-factory town of Rejmyre, Sweden that continues to be central to his art and curatorial practices.
Anita Seppä is Professor of Art History and Art Theory at the Research Institute of the Uniarts Helsinki, Finland. Earlier, she has acted as Professor of Artistic Research and as Professor of Visual Culture Studies. Seppä has published several textbooks, academic articles and collections of articles both in Finland and internationally. She was the co-founder and commissioner of Uniarts Helsinki’s joint international debut, the 1st and 2nd Research Pavilions at the Venice Biennale in 2015 and 2017.
The event is hosted by Prof. Anita Seppä (Research Institute) and Prof. Daniel Peltz (Academy of the Fine Arts) at Uniarts Helsinki, and the “Critical Academy” network of the Uniarts Helsinki.
Registration
Please register for the event by March 2nd, 2025.
Contact information
-
Anita Seppä
- Professor, Tutkimusinstituutti, Research Institute
- +358413135564
- anita.seppa@uniarts.fi