The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) concluded its 2025 Triennial Conference and General Assembly, held over four days in Cairo, Egypt, bringing together the global academy community for dialogue on the role of science in addressing societal challenges, alongside key governance milestones for the Partnership. The meeting welcomed 164 participants from 68 countries, reflecting the breadth and diversity of the IAP network. Over the course of the programme, more than 90 international speakers contributed to 18 sessions, thematic panels, and side events, addressing topics including science diplomacy, trust in science, emerging technologies, gender equality, early-career researchers, and cross-sector collaboration.

On the opening day, ahead of the General Assembly, the conference featured remarks from senior leaders and distinguished guests, including Mostafa Kamal Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt; Mohamed Ayman Ashour, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research; Peggy Hamburg and Masresha Fetene, IAP Co-Presidents; Gina El-Feky, Acting President of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology; and Maria Michela Laroccia, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Italy in Egypt. Their remarks highlighted the importance of science, international cooperation, and the role of academies in supporting evidence-based policy-making.

In addition to attending the formal sessions, my participation provided a valuable platform for direct engagement with senior representatives of national and international academies of sciences. I held substantive discussions with colleagues from the Turkish Academy of Sciences, The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) led by Executive Director Marcelo Knobel, the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences, represented by President Mohamed Hasan, the Royal Society, the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities, represented by Managing Director Dr Sabine Dorpmuller, and the Organisation for Women in Science in the Developing World (OWSD), represented by Vice-President Prof. Olubukola Babalola, among others.

These exchanges focused on strengthening inter-academy cooperation, advancing science diplomacy, and reinforcing the role of academies in informing policy and addressing shared global challenges. During these interactions, many participants expressed keen interest in learning more about the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), its ongoing international activities, and its legal registration in the United States, reflecting the global relevance of its initiatives.

The conference also offered the opportunity to reconnect with Dr Vaughn Turekian, a close colleague and dear friend, who currently serves as Executive Director of the United States National Academy of Sciences. Our discussions centred on international scientific collaboration, the science–policy interface, and the strategic role of academies in promoting dialogue, trust, and evidence-based decision-making at both national and global levels. Collectively, these interactions underscored the importance of the IAP platform not only for institutional governance, but also for nurturing enduring professional relationships across the global scientific community.

I also met for the first time with Prof. Mohamed Hicham Kara, President of the Algerian Academy of Sciences and Technology, whose academy has only recently joined the IAP. Our exchange focused on the priorities and aspirations of this new member within the IAP framework and on opportunities for deeper engagement with the international academy community.

In parallel, I had the opportunity to meet with Mr Shafik Gabr, who graciously invited me to a dinner gathering attended by a number of diplomats as well as prominent figures from Egypt’s film and cultural sectors. While our direct, head-to-head discussion was necessarily brief, we exchanged initial views on the potential for future collaboration between his foundations and WAAS. I found Mr Gabr to be highly receptive to the ideas and values promoted by WAAS, particularly those related to advancing peace, dialogue, and human security at the global level. This exchange highlighted promising scope for deeper engagement in the future, building on shared interests in cultural diplomacy, international cooperation, and inclusive approaches to addressing global challenges.

It is also worth noting that in-person attendance at the IAP General Assembly and Conference did not include representatives from all leading academies, in part because the meeting was organised in a hybrid format, with full participation available via online platforms. While this reduced physical presence, the hybrid arrangement nonetheless enabled broad global engagement and ensured continuity of dialogue among academies unable to attend in person, reflecting evolving modes of international scientific collaboration.

Throughout the meeting, discussions underscored the essential contribution of science academies in providing independent advice, supporting researchers, and fostering collaboration across borders and sectors. Participants emphasised the need for openness, trust, and long-term perspectives in strengthening global science systems.

The IAP General Assembly carried out its statutory responsibilities, including the onboarding of the new IAP leadership team, marking an important transition for the Partnership and its future strategic direction. Recordings of the sessions and the final conference report will be made available on the IAP website and YouTube channel, ensuring continued access for the wider scientific community.

Alas, I hope Phoebe Koundouri will forgive me, as I unfortunately missed her presentation on the first day of the conference due to being engaged in an important meeting away from the venue.

That conviction ran through his life as a science fiction writer, a scientific thinker, and as a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS). His relationship with the Academy was not incidental or ceremonial. It reflected a deep convergence between Clarke’s worldview and WAAS’s founding vision: that humanity’s survival and progress depend on aligning scientific power with ethical imagination and global responsibility.

Clarke was born in 1917 in rural England, a setting that gave him an early fascination with the night sky and a sense of wonder unencumbered by disciplinary boundaries. He never saw science and imagination as separate domains. As a radar specialist during World War II, he experienced firsthand how scientific advances could reshape the fate of nations. That experience left him with a lifelong awareness of science as a moral force—capable of extraordinary liberation, but also immense destruction if divorced from wisdom.

This tension became the engine of his writing. From Childhood’s End to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke explored futures in which technological progress forced humanity to confront its own psychological, ethical, and spiritual limitations. His stories rarely celebrated technology for its own sake. Instead, they treated it as a mirror, reflecting the maturity—or immaturity—of the civilization wielding it. For Clarke, the real frontier was not outer space, but human consciousness.

That insight placed him naturally within the orbit of WAAS when it was founded in 1960. WAAS emerged in the shadow of the atomic age, created by scientists, artists, and thinkers who had witnessed how breakthroughs in physics had outpaced humanity’s capacity for governance, ethics, and foresight. Figures such as Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, and Joseph Rotblat understood that the old silos of knowledge were no longer viable. Clarke shared this conviction instinctively. His work had long argued that the future would demand integrated thinking—where science, ethics, culture, and imagination were in constant dialogue.

As a Fellow of WAAS, Clarke embodied the Academy’s commitment to transdisciplinary thought. He did not approach science fiction as escapism, but as a serious tool for civilizational reflection. In this sense, his novels functioned much like WAAS itself: as thought experiments designed to stretch human perception beyond short-term interests and national boundaries. Clarke’s famous assertion that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” was not merely a clever aphorism. It was a warning. Without understanding and ethical grounding, advanced science risks becoming opaque, unaccountable, and dangerously mythic.

Clarke’s worldview also reinforced the Academy’s global perspective. Long before globalization became a common term, he rejected parochial nationalism. His decision to settle in Sri Lanka was not simply personal; it symbolized his belief that the future of humanity could not be narrated from a single cultural or geopolitical center. WAAS similarly positioned itself as a global institution, committed to planetary challenges rather than national agendas. Both Clarke and the Academy recognized that existential risks—nuclear weapons, environmental degradation, unchecked technological power—do not respect borders.

Perhaps most importantly, Clarke helped legitimize imagination as a necessary partner to science. WAAS was founded on the radical idea that artists and humanists must stand alongside scientists in shaping the future. Clarke’s career offered living proof of that premise. His fiction anticipated satellite communications, space stations, and artificial intelligence not because he was guessing wildly, but because he understood how human intention interacts with scientific possibility. He demonstrated that imagination, when disciplined by knowledge, can be a form of foresight.

This synthesis of realism and optimism deeply influenced the Academy’s tone. Clarke was not naïve about humanity’s flaws. Many of his stories end not in triumph, but in transformation—sometimes unsettling, sometimes ambiguous. Yet he remained fundamentally hopeful that intelligence, once sufficiently enlightened, could choose cooperation over catastrophe. WAAS adopted a similar posture: clear-eyed about risks, but committed to the belief that conscious, values-driven leadership can redirect the trajectory of civilization.

In retrospect, Clarke’s relationship with the World Academy of Art and Science feels inevitable. Both emerged from the same historical reckoning: that humanity had acquired godlike powers without godlike wisdom. Both sought to expand the time horizon of decision-making, urging society to think in centuries rather than quarters, in planetary terms rather than local advantage. And both insisted that the future is not a technical problem alone, but a human one.

Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that “the goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play.” Beneath the wit lay a serious proposition: that the purpose of progress is not endless productivity, but the flowering of human potential. That idea—humane, expansive, and quietly radical—continues to echo in the vision of the World Academy of Art and Science. Through Clarke’s influence, the Academy inherited not just a science fiction writer, but a guide to imagining futures worthy of our intelligence.

Artificial intelligence embedded everywhere. Automation promising efficiency at unprecedented levels. Systems designed to anticipate, optimize, and replace. Yet beneath the spectacle ran a quieter, more troubling undercurrent: while technology is advancing at exponential speed, our ethical frameworks, social institutions, and collective sense of purpose are lagging dangerously behind. Six Fellows of the World Academy of Art and Science attending the world’s largest tech event in Las Vegas in January and convened a special meeting to discuss their thoughts, insights and observations of what they saw.

WAAS Fellow Peter Schlosser spoke on a panel titled “AI and Sustainable Living” where he noted that AI can help us optimize natural resources, and that much historical data has yet to be processed to help uncover new insights. Fellow Lawrence Ford and WAAS General Manager, Grant Schreiber, hosted a panel conceived by WAAS Fellow Eden Mamut on “Advancing Human Security and Smart Mobility.” WAAS Trustee Jonathan Granoff spoke on a panel titled “Staying Ahead in the Data Defense Game,” that explored how AI is reshaping cybersecurity by protecting data, detecting threats, and helping us stay one step ahead of misuse and cyber-attacks.  

​A special side event at CES 2026 convened a broader group of WAAS Fellows, that included Carol Carter and An Krumberger to reflect on their experiences and articulate shared concerns about the future of ethical technology.

Watch: AI and Sustainable Living

Again and again, conversations returned to the same unresolved tension. Technology excels at answering the question of how—how to automate, how to scale, how to optimize—but it consistently fails to address why. Why this technology? For whom? At what cost? And with what consequences for human dignity, identity, and security?

CES has long been a marketplace of solutions, but what was increasingly evident this year was the absence of a shared moral architecture guiding those solutions. Innovation is being driven primarily by market incentives and competitive advantage, while the human implications—job displacement, erosion of identity, widening inequality, and social fragmentation—remain largely externalized. These are treated as collateral effects rather than central design constraints.

One of the most striking observations was how little space exists for the human experience itself. Technology continues to be marketed as labor-saving, friction-reducing, and productivity-enhancing. Yet artificial intelligence represents something fundamentally different from previous tools: it is not merely saving physical labor, but increasingly replacing cognitive labor—reasoning, analysis, creativity, and decision-making. The scale and speed of this shift threaten not only livelihoods but the deeper human need for purpose, participation, and meaning.

Watch: Advancing Human Security and Smart Mobility in Connected Communities

Work has never been solely about income. It is a source of identity, belonging, and contribution to society. As AI systems absorb large portions of cognitive work, the risk is not simply economic displacement, but widespread social disorientation. A society in which people are detached from meaningful participation is not secure—no matter how efficient its systems may be.

These human security implications were notably absent from many displays. While panels explored technical performance, infrastructure, and investment, far fewer addressed the societal shockwaves now unfolding in real time. The question of who bears responsibility for these consequences—industry, government, or civil society—remains unresolved, and too often unasked.

Another recurring theme was the narrowing of perspective. Many technologies are being developed by relatively homogenous groups and deployed at global scale, shaping lives far beyond the rooms in which design decisions are made. Women, youth, marginalized communities, people with disabilities, and those most vulnerable to disruption are still largely missing from the feedback loops that shape innovation. Ethical technology cannot be achieved by adding a human-centric slogan after the fact; it requires intentional inclusion of diverse human perspectives at the point of conception.

Watch: Staying Ahead in the Data Defense Game

The conversations also revealed a deeper philosophical divide emerging beneath the surface of technological progress. Technology is becoming increasingly autonomous, while humans are becoming increasingly procedural. Systems are optimized; people are standardized. In corporations, automation and quality assurance frameworks have already narrowed human agency to predefined roles. Left unchecked, advanced AI risks accelerating this trend—reducing humans to operators, overseers, or passive recipients of algorithmic outcomes.

This inversion is not inevitable, but it is already underway.

Human security, as discussed at CES, offers a crucial reframing. It shifts the focus from protecting systems, borders, or profits to protecting people—their dignity, safety, livelihoods, and capacity to thrive. It insists that innovation be evaluated not only by efficiency or return on investment, but by whether it genuinely meets human needs. In turbulent times, such a compass is not a luxury; it is essential.

Yet introducing this perspective is not without political and institutional sensitivity. Concepts like human security challenge entrenched power structures by asserting that human well-being is not subordinate to sovereignty, markets, or technological inevitability. This makes the conversation uncomfortable—but also necessary. Ethical technology cannot be apolitical if it claims to serve humanity; it must confront the realities of power, exclusion, and consequence.

Importantly, several voices noted that this is no longer a moment for endless study. The issues are well understood. The time-sensitive imperative is action. Practical use cases, real-world applications, and visible demonstrations of ethical integration are needed now—not as theoretical exercises, but as working models. Whether in education, home technologies, mobility, or AI governance, the challenge is to show that ethical design is not a constraint on innovation, but a condition for its legitimacy and long-term success.

CES 2026 made one truth unmistakably clear: technology will not slow down to wait for our institutions to catch up. If ethical frameworks are not embedded deliberately, they will be replaced by default logics—efficiency over equity, automation over participation, profit over purpose. The absence of intention is itself a choice, and one with profound consequences.

Watch: CES CEO Gary Shapiro on Human Security, AI & How Technology Can Improve Lives

What is required now is a shift in mindset. Technology must be understood not as an end in itself, but as a technique—powerful, neutral, and incomplete without values to guide it. Markets can drive innovation, but they cannot define meaning. Algorithms can optimize outcomes, but they cannot determine what outcomes are worth optimizing.

CES remains one of the world’s most influential stages for shaping the future. What happens there reverberates far beyond Las Vegas. The question emerging from this year’s gathering is not whether technology will transform society—it already is. The real question is whether humanity will have the wisdom, courage, and foresight to shape that transformation before it shapes us.

In an era of accelerating disruption, ethical technology is not about slowing progress. It is about ensuring that progress remains human.

As an artist and design scientist, my work explores how imagination, technology, and responsibility can act together to shape a livable future for all. Through Fullervision Design Science, I develop narratives and experiences that treat the planet as a shared artwork in progress, inviting people to see themselves as co-authors of our collective destiny. 

My practice lives in the space where digital and physical worlds meet: immersive media, artificial intelligence, spatial computing, and regenerative design. I use these tools to reveal the hidden patterns that link human systems, ecosystems, and emerging technologies, with the goal of transforming complexity into insight and insight into action. 

Guided by the belief that the future is not something we predict but something we design, I work with retrocausal perspectives, looking at the present through the eyes of generations yet to come. This orientation shapes projects on circular energy, ocean stewardship, democratic renewal, and new models of citizenship that honor human dignity and planetary limits. 

Fullervision is my ongoing experiment in worldmaking: an evolving studio of thought and practice where art functions as a bridge between science, ethics, and public imagination, not merely a decoration, but also an important catalyst for justice, understanding, and hope, linking global citizens through shared stories and imaginative empathy.

But today, we are not just celebrating artistic excellence; we are recognizing the profound utility of creativity.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. This Prize is more than a competition; it is a channel which unites us as people of the Commonwealth. The Prize celebrates established writers and uncovers emerging talent, creating a space where boundaries dissolve, and shared humanity takes centre stage.
In the last two years, the Commonwealth Foundation received more than 7,000 short story submissions each year. Beyond the sheer quantity of these submissions, it is the diversity of the narratives that reflects the continued relevance of creative expression.

Stories are a powerful reminder of the breadth of voices, perspectives, and cultural experiences within the Commonwealth. Each story takes us through a journey inside the writer’s mind, but it also acts as a mirror that reflects our own lived experiences.

This is why storytelling is vital in the work that we do. It serves as a bridge across cultures and generations, and a catalyst for empathy and understanding.
When considering ‘Art with Purpose,’ we must go one step further. We must ask: How do these stories serve the safety and resilience of our planet?
Short stories act as vital training grounds for human resilience. They allow us to simulate survival, to navigate crises, and to imagine solutions before they manifest. A story can warn us of what we stand to lose, transforming abstract concepts such as ‘climate change’ into a tangible, emotional reality.

The safety of our planet depends on our ability to care for neighbors we have never met and landscapes we have never seen. Literature breaks down the apathy that threatens our environment. By engaging with these narratives, we are not just reading; we are building the emotional stamina required to protect our shared home. Through short stories, we can deepen connections, inspiring writers and readers to realize their power to create change.

It is through the diversity of our stories that we also preserve histories and realities, share our dreams, and build a shared future, exemplifying the power of art with purpose.
Art in its varied forms occupies a place of importance in the Pacific. Visual art including, painting, carving, weaving, body art, music, chanting, and dance, are very important to the people of the Pacific. Body art or tattoos, define people’s origins and beliefs, as do songs, and dances. All these tell stories. Colonialism discontinued most of these in the Pacific but they have re-emerged in living generations as we gained maturity to be ourselves.

These different art forms on the one hand, represent our diversity across the region, but also bind us through understanding and mutual respect. Our similarities and differences are woven together in a colorful mat which keeps us together and protects us in times of uncertainty. It could be said that art and music are great ambassadors within our region and to the world.

To conclude, let us remember that creativity is not merely a decoration, but also an important catalyst for justice, understanding, and hope, linking global citizens through shared stories and imaginative empathy.

March 15, 2026 – 9:30 am to 1:30 pm | Baku, Azerbaijan

Concept Note for Nizami Ganjavi International Center (NGIC) — WAAS Side Event at GBF2026

The sources of global turbulence were examined and debated during a series of conferences in 2025 beginning with a side event at GBF2025 organized by WAAS, NGIC and F4G, a WAAS-ASU one-day meeting, and a four-day WAAS@65 conference in partnership with NGIC, F4G, UNESCO-MOST Bridges, AE4RIA, ASU, COR, GPOC, EASA, EXTRA, SDSN, BSUN, GSI, GPEN, IACP, WUC and Millennium Project.

Following up on the examination of the sources of turbulence, the GBF2026 side event will focus on the development of solutions under three interdependent themes: Peace, Prosperity, Freedom and Human Security, and four essential issues. Each issue will seek to develop solutions identified during the events of 2025. The side event will be divided into four 50-minute sessions.

Theme I: Peace

1. Promoting Global Leadership: The unprecedented speed and increasing complexity of global social transition exceeds the understanding, policies and expertise of prevailing theory and strategy in academia and government at the local, national and global levels. This session will explore the questions: What do today’s leaders need to better understand the highly complex factors generating global turbulence and the strategies needed to enable leaders to cope with the bewildering array of interconnected challenges confronting nation-states and people of the world? What type of leadership education do we need to prepare future leaders? This session will be of great relevance to former national leaders who can reflect on the misconceptions and errors now being committed by current world leaders.

Theme II: Prosperity

Focusing specifically on strategies to promote global security, sustainable development, economic transformation. Solutions for discussion:

2. Financing human security and sustainable development: Global wealth totals nearly US$700 trillion. This session will explore strategies to mobilize far greater capital for climate change management, essential infrastructure, healthcare, education, digital connectivity, affordable housing, food systems and financial inclusion, as well as accelerated application of catalytic technologies, reform of the global financial system, and systemic change of capitalism into a change agent to meet the world’s needs, based on research published in the Force for Good Report The World Investment Plan: Building the Transition to a Secure, Sustainable and Superior Future. This session will promote awareness of the choices available to direct a much larger portion of global capital to meet urgent needs.

3. Global Solutions to Raise the World’s Platform, the UN SDGs: Technology is now a defining driver of global progress and turbulence. UNTFHS, WAAS, F4G & the Consumer Technology Association partnership under the UN Human Security for All (HS4A) program has reframed technology as the eighth dimension of human security. Research demonstrates innovation can be closely aligned with peace, inclusion & sustainability and that exponential technological power can promote human values, ethics, wellbeing and sustainability for the whole world. Solutions are now available to transform the Sustainable Development crisis into opportunity. This session will examine nine transformative, scalable solution areas that together could advance nearly 90% of global SDG targets, if deployed worldwide. Based on research published in the F4G Report Technology as a Force for Good released and presented at CES2025.

Theme III: Freedom & Human Security

4. Threats and Opportunities in the Age of AI: The Power of Cognitive Systems and the Potential of Symbiotic Systems:Managing the civilizational shift posed by AI will determine whether AI becomes humanity’s greatest tool or its greatest risk as the world shifts towards a more secure, sustainable and superior future for all. New technologies are concentrating power and value into a new form of digital colonialism that controls people by the shaping and control of information, attention, and human behavior leading to a cognitive and technological battle for supremacy among nation states. A research paper now in press “Rising Age of Cognitive Empires: Colonizing the Mind” by Ketan Patel.

Used correctly, AI can also significantly enhance human intelligence, rationality, decision-making and education by generating transdisciplinary perspectives, identifying intellectual biases, promoting rationality, improving decision-making, and placing affordable, world-class higher education at the fingertips of all human beings who seek it.

Artistic has grown into a thriving platform that supports all artists no matter what their challenges are. It curates’ exhibitions and drives innovation in the art community. We’ve adapted over the years to ensure creativity thrives. 

My role with X-Art and War on Climate is to engage and support 100 artists to participate in the upcoming launch show “WWW,” which will take place at Overseas House in London on 10 April 2026. This collaborative exhibition combines the creative and organizational strengths of three wonderful initiatives — X-Art, War on Climate and Artistic-PNK — to produce a memorable and thought-provoking event that will linger in the mind and provoke reflection. It aims to pose challenging questions and offer some unexpected answers, encouraging viewers to look again and think differently. Above all, we believe the show will not only spark conversation but also open pathways for collective exploration and the search for meaningful solutions.

Defining the World We Want

The theme of “WWW” is to raise awareness of the escalating crisis our world now faces. We will invite participating artists to support this focus by creating work that clearly defines and carefully unpacks the complex problems we are experiencing with our climate and environment, and that reflects on our shared global responsibility for peace and meaningful, lasting progress. Artists will be invited to investigate how we might confront the many difficulties we encounter in the world as it is today — a complex and often contradictory place, to say the least. Our contributors will delve into the questions and potential answers that engage us with the idea of the World We Want, offering perspectives that challenge, inspire and propose routes towards change.

“WWW” is a question about the state of the world; it simply asks how we want to contribute to our collective future. It is also a statement about what we desire, and about the role we believe art can play in inspiring creativity, imagination, and practical solutions for the kind of world we hope to build. By raising this question, we invite reflection, responsibility, and active participation, encouraging individuals and communities to imagine alternatives and to work together toward more thoughtful, equitable and sustainable futures. Do we have the empowering answers, and the will, that will allow us to create the World We Want?

Art has the remarkable ability to transcend boundaries, evoke deep emotions, and ignite the imagination in unexpected and profound ways. Through “WWW” we will explore and celebrate the captivating possibilities of the creative arts in all their diverse forms, highlighting their lasting impact on individuals and communities and the transformative power they hold in shaping perspectives and sparking conversation. With “WWW” we are preparing to embark on a brief but illuminating journey where creativity knows no limits and where fresh viewpoints and unexpected connections come to life.

Art as a Catalyst for Personal and Social Transformation

Engaging with art can have a profound and lasting impact on an individual’s personal growth and development. Through the process of creation or deep immersion in artistic experiences, people can explore their own emotions more fully, uncover fresh perspectives, and gradually cultivate richer and more nuanced avenues of self-expression. Artistic endeavours encourage careful critical thinking, inventive problem-solving, and the continual nurturing of one’s imagination and curiosity. The act of creation becomes an exploratory journey of self-discovery, fostering greater confidence, emotional resilience, and a clearer sense of personal identity. Our artists for “WWW” will investigate these complex and interwoven areas through their work, inviting our audience to undertake that journey for themselves and discover their own responses and insights.

Beyond personal growth, art has the power to spark social change and challenge entrenched societal norms. Artists throughout history have used their creations to illuminate pressing issues, provoke thoughtful conversations, and inspire collective action. Joseph Beuys tells us that “Everyone is an artist”. Art becomes a compelling medium for advocacy, advancing social justice, equality, and deeper cultural understanding.

It enables marginalized voices to be heard and overlooked narratives to be shared, fostering empathy, widening perspectives, and encouraging sustained dialogue that can lead to meaningful transformations within communities and society at large. “WWW” intends to use the show’s spark to ignite that important emotional response and to begin both challenging and empowering our responsibilities as the creative curators of our planet, encouraging deeper reflection and active participation in shaping a more thoughtful, sustainable cultural landscape.

Medium, Meaning, and the Transformative Power of Exhibition

Art is an expansive and varied realm, encompassing a wide multitude of forms including painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and many more creative practices. Each medium offers a distinct and powerful means of expression, enabling artists to convey their thoughts, emotions, and individual perspectives with subtlety and nuance. From revered classical masterpieces to bold contemporary installations and experimental works that push boundaries, art has the capacity to captivate, provoke, challenge, and deeply inspire viewers, fostering a meaningful and often intimate connection between the artist and the audience.

We are developing this exhibition and hoping that, with careful consideration, we can thoughtfully harness these abilities so that “WWW” will evoke a powerful, memorable, and lasting response in both our contributors and the audience alike.

“WWW” will embrace art’s power to foster personal growth and spark positive social, political and emotional change, encouraging reflection, dialogue and meaningful action. Peter Gabriel recently explained our responsibilities like this: “Artists have a role to look into the mists and, when they catch sight of something, to hold up a mirror.” “WWW” will enable our artists to do precisely that, giving them the tools and platform to reflect, reveal and respond to what they perceive.

Building Impact Through Leadership, Curation, and Community

In my role as Founder and Director of Artistic-PNK, I have carefully developed and expanded the entire project from its foundations into a thriving, sustainable reality over the last ten years, proactively shaping strategy, operations and artistic direction to ensure long-term impact. I have actively supported the professional development of 20 emerging artists, providing mentorship, resources and exhibition opportunities, and have curated 23 progressively significant London-based art exhibitions that have built the organisation’s reputation. These have included hugely successful shows such as “Thumbnail,” “50/50” and “Black,” each attracting increasing attention from collectors, critics and the public and contributing to important critical conversations.

We have also organized and supported several charity-focused exhibitions in partnership with organizations like Anna Kennedy and Back on Track, helping to raise meaningful funds and public awareness for those important causes. We are currently developing a major new show for 2027, which will feature 500 artists — a diverse mix of practitioners, many of whom face significant social and practical challenges, alongside numerous accomplished and widely recognised contemporary artists — working together to create meaningful, lasting change across the wider art world.

Sustaining the Artistic Journey

Following on from the “WWW” exhibition in April, Artistic will be staging another show towards the end of the year in the Crypt Gallery in Kings Cross. This forthcoming exhibition, titled “Pandemonium,” will examine the chaos and confusion that can arise as the world shifts from one phase to another, exploring moments of upheaval, uncertainty and transformation through a diverse and carefully selected range of works that question, provoke and inspire.

We will again be collaborating with the World Academy of Art and Sciences’ “X-Art” and the marvelous “War on Climate.” The show will bring together another distinguished group of artists, all working together once more to explore a fresh, provocative theme — the concept of “Pandemonium.” It promises to be a thrilling, challenging and thought-provoking exhibition in such an extraordinary venue.

www.artistic-uk.org   /  clnsugden@aol.com /  Insta@artistic_pnk  / insta@fivers4artistic

A central thread running through the discussion was the idea of a Global Peace Offensive. An idea to shift away from security models based primarily on deterrence and fear, toward approaches grounded in human security, common security, trust and shared responsibility.

In his intervention, Jonathan Granoff, president of the Global Security Institute, Trustee and a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, framed the urgency of this shift by confronting participants with the realities of nuclear risk. He recalled the scale of existing arsenals, the history of near-misses caused by human and technical error, and the fragility of systems that depend on speed and individual judgment. Reflecting on this reliance on chance, he noted that “every day, we are living with good luck, and that’s not adequate policy,” arguing that security must be rethought through a human and common security lens. In this context, he pointed to initiatives such as The Global Peace Offensive, promoted by The World Academy of Art and Science, as a way of reframing security debates around shared vulnerability and responsibility.

Building directly on this framing, Emma Slažanská, junior researcher for The Global Peace Offensive/WAAS, carried the Peace Offensive logic into practical terrain relevant for disarmament and parliamentary action. She explained that the Global Peace Offensive begins from a simple recognition: “If we rely solely on top-level politics to resolve conflicts, we may be waiting for a very long time.” Instead, the initiative focuses on what can be influenced immediately, that being trust-building, local relationships, symbolic gestures, and the creation of spaces where dialogue can re-emerge. Emma also outlined the GPO’s diagnostic approach, which seeks not only to identify sources of tension, but to recognize what is already working within conflict systems: where cooperation persists, who continues to speak across divides, and which small “pivot points” could be strengthened. Linking this directly to the webinar’s theme, she stressed that disarmament is not only a technical process, but also a confidence-building exercise that supports a broader shift toward shared security.

The responses reinforced the Peace Offensive logic. Alyn Ware (Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament) emphasized the role of parliamentarians, particularly younger ones, in moving beyond false binaries between deterrence and disarmament, and highlighted Assuring our Common Future[AW1]  and Human security and common security to build peace[AW2] , two resources for parliamentarians on this issue produced by IPU, PNND and the International Peace Bureau. Meanwhile, Jonathan Granoff pointed to historical examples such as middle-power initiatives and nuclear-weapon-free zones, where trust-building steps reshaped political dynamics and prepared the ground for more ambitious agreements. 

Overall, the exchange illustrated how the Peace Offensive can operate within parliamentary and disarmament spaces: by connecting hard security realities to human-centered analysis, and by showing how small, deliberate actions can help change the conditions in which peace and disarmament become possible.

 [AW1]The link is https://disarmamenthandbook.org/

 [AW2]The link is https://www.ipu.org/resources/publications/toolkits/2024-09/human-security-and-common-security-build-peace