Nelson Mandela’s legacy continues to inspire many
around the world. To mark this year’s Nelson Mandela Day, The Nobel Peace
Centre in Norway has commissioned former Design Indaba speakers, Snøhetta, to create a new art piece in collaboration with
aluminium specialists, Hydro and furniture producers, Vestre.
The team
designed a “peace bench” called The Best Weapon, which is inspired by
one of Nelson Mandela’s famous quotes which reads: “The best weapon is to
sit down and talk.”
The bench
will be unveiled today at the UN Headquarters in New York to commemorate Nelson
Mandela Day. It will remain there until September. Thereafter it will be
transferred to its permanent location at the Nobel Peace Centre in Norway.
Designed
to pay tribute to Nobel Prize laureates and their effort to bring people
together in order to find solutions for peace, the bench speaks volumes in its
simplicity. The Best Weapon is designed as a partial circle that meets the
ground at its lowest point with the gentle arc of the bench pulling those
sitting on it closer together.
Like the
Madiba quote that inspired it (which is engraved on it), the bench is an
invitation to conversation.
Snøhetta founder Kjetil Trædal Thorsen said to Dezeen: “In today’s digitalised and polarised society,
sitting down and speaking together might be the most effective tool that we
have to find solutions and common ground.”
The bench
balances a duality of messages, both as a functional piece that invites
conversation and social intimacy, as well as a resilient symbol that anchors
the Peace Centre’s mission for discourse and peace.
This is not the first time that Snøhetta has worked on a monument honouring or
inspired by a South African Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Two years ago, Design Indaba commissioned Snøhetta together with Johannesburg-based architects
Local Studio to design a monument in honour of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his
commitment to peace and democracy.
Called the Arch for Arch after the name the Nobel Peace Prize struggle hero is affectionately known by, the monument sits on Cape Town’s oldest avenue and right next to St George’s Cathedral where Archibishop Tutu was based for many years.https://www.designindaba.com/articles/creative-work/sn%C3%B8hetta-reveals-new-madiba-inspired-peace-bench?utm_source=Design+Indaba+mailing+list&utm_campaign=c1cd4e9bcd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_07_03_11_10_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_eb8e2b1d91-c1cd4e9bcd-429594081
