Nobel Peace Center
The Nobel Peace Center, one of the most visited museums in Norway, is an arena for debates and reflection on war, peace and conflict resolution. It holds temporary and permanent exhibitions throughout the year and when I visited last November there were two main exhibitions going on; Targets and The Nobel Peace Prize exhibition 2014 – Malala and Kailash.
Targets is a photo exhibition that shows how images of the enemy are created. Herlinde Koelbl the photographer behind the exhibition has visited military training camps in 27 countries, photographing the targets that soldiers use when they are training to kill.
"I think it is a very good place to show this project. Some of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates were called terrorists in the beginning, and their message is the ability to change and to solve conflicts with bargaining, not with war." - Koelbl
There was also an audio installation and excerpts from Koelbl’s conversations with the soldiers accompanying the photographs. They provided a glimpse of the challenging position the soldiers find themselves in. I listened to the thoughts of soldiers and snipers on war, killing, and children being used as human shield. All I kept thinking was why do we have to do this? Why do humans thrive on war and chaos? Why can’t the world be at peace? Why, why, why!
Watch this short interview with Herlinde Koelbl:
"I would sacrifice my life for my comrades. This is a hard choice to make, but I would do it. I have a wife and four kids, a good family, but I would do it. Because the guilt of not helping or not making the sacrifice is harder to bear than the sacrifice itself." - An anonymous soldier.
The interviews got to me and so I slowly put down the headphones to stop listening to the horror stories of killings and went up to the next floor for The Nobel Peace Prize exhibition 2014.
Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for their struggle against the oppression of children and youth, and for all childrens’ right to education. The Peace Prize exhibition of 2014 told the story of their unstoppable fight for children’s rights struggle through photographs and live images.
This film shows some of the highlights from the exhibition:
Honouring Malala Yousafzai’s wish, the school uniform she wore when she was shot in the head by the Taliban in October 2012, was part of the exhibition.
"The day I was attacked I was wearing this uniform and I was fighting for my right to go to school and I was fighting for my right to get education. I want to show everyone that this is my right, this is the right of every child to go to school and this should not be neglected." - Malala Yousafzai
The center also had photos and short bios of Alfred Nobel, The Dalai Lama and the Nobel Peace prize laureates.
I don’t think I smiled for the rest of the day after I left the Nobel Peace Center. However, months after my visit, the centre is the number one activity I’ll recommend to anyone visiting Oslo. The city may be expensive, cold, and with confusing pedestrian road network, but a visit to the center makes it all worth it.
