Permanent War: The Age of Global Conflict, Barbara and Steven Grossman Gallery & Mrs. E Ross Anderson Auditorium, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA, 29 January – 7 March 2015

In the century since World War I, coined “The war to end all wars,” battles have raged on around the globe. The nature of warfare has changed dramatically with wars no longer beginning with formal declarations or ending with peace treaties; instead, violence spreads underground, with terror surfacing in ever-changing locations; drone warfare merges politics with computer games; news from far-flung battlefronts is devastatingly immediate.

January 29–March 7, 2015, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SMFA) will tackle this difficult subject with its spring exhibition, Permanent War: The Age of Global Conflict, guest curated by Pamela Allara. “The many commemorations in Europe of the centenary of World War I inspired me to propose a war-themed exhibition to Joanna Soltan, SMFA Curator,” says Allara. “Although the nature of war is rapidly changing, its death and destruction remain. The artists included in the exhibition examine our state of permanent war with insight, courage and not infrequently, ironic humor.”

Organized into five themes—Mechanized Bodies, Combat as Performance, Living in a War Zone, Conflict as Media Entertainment, and Landscape as Cemetery—Allara brings together 16 artists to explore the lives of military and private citizens are surveyed, manipulated, controlled, and threatened in this era of perpetual warfare. ARTISTS Matthew Arnold, Claire Beckett, Bill Burke, Bonnie Donohue, Paul Emmanuel, Harun Farocki, Coco Fusco, Adam Harvey, Ken Hruby, Lamia Joreige, Richard Mosse, Trevor Paglen, Jamal Penjweny, Sig Bang Schmidt and Steve Dalachinsky, Paul Stopforth, and Mark Tribe. 3SAI: A Rite of Passage (2008) was selected by the curator for this exhibition.