From Papamoa, New Zealand by Kim
http://www.flickr.com/photos/todaysart/4280884966/

Hereby I would like to confirm that the “Miniscule Blue Helmets on a Massive Quest” have reached New Zealand.

50.000 toy soldiers with blue painted helmets are spreading around the world as a worldwide intervention in public space. The website www.minibluehelmets.com invites people to upload their eyewitness reports and shows over 800 photos taken in more than 40 different countries so far.

link to the photoset on flickr.com: http://www.flickr.com/photos/todaysart/sets/72157618540309617/

The project by Dutch artist Pierre Derks is based on his fascination with the fact that war is being presented as toys. Militarism and conflicts are indisputable part of our world, but the question is if you should get confronted with it in a playful way.

By painting the helmets blue (by hand) and changing the context by placing the soldiers in the public domain, gives them a political meaning and raises the same questions about their presence as the bigger blue helmets do. Example is the paradox of armed peacemaking.

The project is a huge artwork that calls for collaboration and interaction and not a provocation or protest. The Hague (Holland) ‘International City of Peace, Justice & Security’ functions as their forward operating base from where they take off. This fits the discription as being the world's fourth United Nations city.

Other reports can be found on www.minibluehelmets.com.

http://twitter.com/minibluehelmets

ENDS