Peace Sofas merges sofas to bring Europeans together
People with opposing views had their own sofas cut in half and joined into one, then sat down to talk.
People in Europe have stopped listening to each other. The European Network for Non-violence and Dialogue, led by Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia and co-funded by the European Union, wants to change that, and this month it brought the problem to Buena.
A continent pulling apart
Extremism has risen fast across Europe. Social media and fake news have polarized communities. PDCS sees the cost up close, in the kind of hate and mistrust behind the deadly attack on Henry John Serafica Acorda, a Filipino immigrant.
The network’s work is dialogue: trainings, conferences and good practice shared across central and eastern Europe. What it needs now is a way to make the rest of Europe notice.
Talking about tolerance isn’t enough
A poster asking people to be tolerant won’t move anyone. People have to actually sit down together, with someone whose views they can’t stand, and find out what happens.
So the questions for the work are practical ones.
Who sits down
Real people with real convictions, on the issues that divide Europe most. Not actors.
Where they meet
Somewhere that feels safe and familiar, not a debate stage.
Who sees it
Audiences in several countries, in their own languages, close to where the polarization is.
What came next
The answer took four months of collaboration, including a month working together in person in Bratislava and three weeks of production in Vienna. It became Peace Sofas. We paired people with opposing views on refugees, feminism, abortion and homelessness, cut each pair’s own sofas in half, sewed the halves into one, and filmed them meeting on it for the first time.
The four sofas went on show at the MuseumsQuartier Wien in June, with the film in five languages and press outreach in six countries. You can read about the launch, and how it reached 21.8 million people, on the case page.
