The Cultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Arts (CIRCA) is proud to present WAR & PEACE, an audience participatory work by cult-famed multidisciplinary artist, Dick Jewell.

Dick Jewell said ➳

War and Peace considers the mixed messages received from common gestures. Through bringing together the different eras and cultures within which the ✌️ sign has been and still is used – from antiquity through to its contemporary use in the UK, Japan, etc – and those who use it from statesmen to the proletariat, I’m debunking the taboo that had been associated with the gesture by rendering it as virtually meaningless. However by blowing up the image with CIRCA and exhibiting it on the Piccadilly Lights and other screens around the world, I hope the public take photographs of themselves standing in front of it…imitating and adapting the gesture to become part of the work themselves.

Launching 19 July on London’s iconic Piccadilly Lights and broadcasting at 20:23 local time across a global network of screens until 31 August 2023, WAR & PEACE coincides with the first time Winston Churchill used the V for Victory sign on July 19, 1941. The ‘V’ sign – a hand gesture which has the palm outwards with the index and middle fingers open and all others closed – symbolised the first letter of French, Flemish and English words for ‘victory’ (victoire, vrijheid and victory, respectively) and became a rallying emblem for the Allies during World War II. In the USA during the 1960s, activists against the Vietnam War adopted the sign as an anti-war symbol of peace. More recently, it also became a gesture associated with fun used in photographs, especially in East Asia, where the gesture is also associated with cuteness.

WAR & PEACE emerges from Jewell’s decades-long fascination with gathering, hoarding and reconfiguring images. This summer, global audiences are encouraged to participate by taking a ✌️ selfie and uploading their photo to social media using the hashtag #DJWARANDPEACE, with a selection of people receiving a free, hand-signed print by Dick Jewell.

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CIRCA SCREEN LOCATIONS

For three minutes every evening (at precisely 20:25 local time throughout the year 2025) CIRCA pauses the adverts across a global network of screens in London’s Piccadilly Circus and elsewhere to reflect and challenge the times we live in, circa now.

London, Piccadilly Lights

Experience WAR & PEACE by Dick Jewell every evening at 20:23 BST (19 July – 31 August 2023) on the iconic Piccadilly Lights screen.

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Berlin, Kurfürstendamm

Experience WAR & PEACE by Dick Jewell every evening at 20:23 CET (19 July – 31 August 2023) on Berlin’s Limes Kurfürstendamm screen.

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Milan, Cadorna Square

Experience WAR & PEACE by Dick Jewell every evening at 20:23 CET (19 July – 31 August 2023) on Milan’s EssilorLuxottica screen.

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Seoul, COEX K-Pop Square

Experience WAR & PEACE by Dick Jewell every evening at 20:23 KST (19 July – 31 August 2023) on Seoul’s COEX K-Pop Square screen.

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Dick Jewell: War & Peace

By Kemi Alemoru

On 19 July 1941, Winston Churchill threw up his V for Victory – his index and middle finger spread apart while all his other fingers rested on his palm. The gesture spread as a rallying emblem for Europeans fighting Germany and its allies in the second world war. But if a driver were to overtake you today and stick two fingers up at you, you wouldn’t receive that as a symbol of solidarity and peace. You’d be rightly insulted.

When asked whether he minds whether passers-by throw their fingers up at his latest project, “War & Peace”, which will be displayed by CIRCA this evening, Dick Jewell laughs. “There’s a shot of me throwing them up backwards to Donald Trump,” he says. “But that’s a reflection of him throwing the same gesture.”

Airing at 20:23 local time across the world in iconic locations like London’s Piccadilly Lights, Berlin, Milan and Seoul, “War and Peace”, originally a 36-foot collage, focuses on how simple gestures spread between people, across borders and shift over time. In his research, he found the symbol in many different contexts. “I was surprised to find a hippy Barbie doll, for one, and also by how many world leaders were still throwing two fingers one way or another. Like India’s Manmohan Singh and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, loved Saddam Hussein in particular in that respect, throwing the double Peace gesture,” he explains. “But as for intrigue, one of my favourites is Viggo Mortensen with the fingers going into his neck. What is that about?”

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Biography

Dick Jewell

Dick Jewell is a London born and based multidisciplinary artist. Jewell graduated from the Royal College of Art with a Masters in Printmaking in 1978. His practice encompasses photomontage, photography, film-making and book publishing.

His diverse and fascinating career includes running his own record label in the 80s, releasing albums for Gregory Isaacs and Prince Far I and collaborating with artists including Neneh Cherry and Massive Attack. He has directed over 50 films, many of which have been shown internationally at the Venice Biennale, Tate Liverpool, MOMA Sydney, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the ICA. His work is represented in public collections, including the Stedelijk Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Arts Council of Great Britain, Hayward Gallery, and Leeds Art Gallery to name a few.