P-SPINE

Standing strong while building peace 

The Global Peacebuilders Summit is initiated by the Culture

Counts Foundation and brings together renowned personalities

from (post-)conflict regions and experienced peace builders from all around the world, who work directly on peace processes, are connected internationally and interested in a global discourse

on the role of civil society in peace processes. During the 2018 edition of the gathering, 30 German and international peace builders came together in Paretz, Germany, to discuss conflicts, approaches to conciliation, and their different countries’ political contexts. On this occasion we designed an unique

ritual, the P_SPINE.

_We wrote in a wax sheet with a white feather, 

_ kneaded the wax into a symbolic shape (a conversation piece),

_ transformed it into different symbolic shapes during the week, 
_ molded it into a building block on the last day, 
_ casted the wax block into plaster (poured into a flower pot),
_ made a fire, heated the pots and poured out the fluid wax, 
_ filled the hollow space (the mold) with tin, 
_ shared our stories on what we had written in the wax,
_ destroyed the pots and found treasures – peace building blocks,
_ built a silver ’Peace Spine’,
_ shared a powerful moment,
_ stood strong.