The Bomb: A Virtual Screening and Q&A with the Artist Smriti Keshari (Online)

The Bomb: A Screening and Q&A with the Artist Smriti Keshari

Abstract:

This event features a virtual film screening of the bomb, a film that explores the immense power of nuclear weapons, the perverse appeal they have, and the profound death wish at the very heart of them. The 61-minute film takes viewers through the strange, compelling, and unsettling reality of nuclear weapons today. Following the screening, the Artist Smriti Keshari will take questions from the audience.

This event is part of a larger program co-sponsored with All Soul’s Church and, The Phillips Collection, Artists of Conscience Series.

On October 27, 2022 at 6pm, Chief Curator Elsa Smithgall moderates a conversation exploring art’s role in addressing nuclear war abolition, peace and reconciliation. Panelists include Leslie King Hammond, Mel Hardy, and Smriti Yeshari. The program includes poignant musical reflections performed by pianist Ryo Yanagitani, cellist Char Prescott, and members of the All Souls Church, Unitarian, Washington, DC choir.

The Artist of Conscience panel brings together figures from the arts, policy, and scientific communities to discuss how the arts can be an impetus for action. The panel focuses on the power of artists as advocates for change and how policy makers and artists have and can collaborate effectively.

Speaker Bio:

Smriti Keshari is an Indian-American multimedia artist and filmmaker whose work covers a spectrum of the moving image from traditional, linear filmmaking to art installations. She brings an experimental approach to exploring under-represented themes and experiences outside the mainstream.

Keshari is known for her acclaimed multi-media installation, the bomb, which was heralded as “a stunning avant-garde approach to a plea for nuclear disarmament.”

She is an artist-in-residence with the National Theatre in London, and both BAM and Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. Her work has been supported by the MacArthur Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Ford Foundation, and more. She has spoken about art and social change at the United Nations, BBC, SXSW, Bloomberg Philanthropy and TED. She was a TED Prize finalist and 2016 Foreign Policy's Global Creative Thinker.

Most recently, Keshari’s DIS|INTEGRATION premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).