In the Absence of Bombs
Art, War, and Silence
- Forthcoming: expected 2026. You can pre-order this book in our webshop. As soon as the book is available, we will dispatch your order.
- Urgent and topical, in a time in which military mobilization is encouraged
- A versatile, in-depth anthology about the influence art and media have on war (and the other way around)
Editors: Pascal Gielen, Bahia Shehab
Contributors: Amir Ashkar, Jan Beddegenoodts, Yousra Benfquih, Marlies De Munck, Naama Shoshana Fogiel Lewin, Lara García Diaz, Pascal Gielen, Mohamed Hijji, Erwin Jans, Mazen Kerbaj, Lara Khaldi, Maha Maamoun, Sohail Salem, Roschanack Shaery-Yazdi, Bahia Shehab, Walid Taher, Jana Traboulsi, Emily Van Driessen, Annelys de Vet
Design: Metahaven
Series: Antennae-Arts in Society Series
Forthcoming: expected 2026, Valiz supported by Vfonds | pb | c. 320 pp. | 21 x 13,5 cm (h x w) | English | ISBN 978-94-93246-59-1
What happens when violence is committed before our very eyes, yet responses fail to materialize or hesitate? When political, academic, and cultural institutions retreat behind diplomacy, and when even engaged artists falter in the face of war?
In the Absence of Bombs investigates this silence. How can such paralysis persist precisely at a time when atrocities are broadcast live, and apathy has become institutionalized? How can art contribute, with due respect, to the acknowledgment of war crimes? How can poets, visual artists, theatre makers, and filmmakers temper the shocking spectacle of the media? How can mourning become a collective and political force, rather than a solitary void?
Drawing on testimonies from Gaza and Kharkiv, from Beirut and Brussels, the editors Pascal Gielen and Bahia Shehab assemble a polyphonic response to a world that demands clarity yet has so far failed to provide it. The book does not moralize. It insists on engagement, on attentiveness, on the right to mourn. And above all, on a different imagination of raw reality. Not mere representation, but a dignified aesthetics that touches and continues to touch.