Non-Violence - Stockholm, Sweden
Posted by: 
marcius
N 59° 20.038 E 018° 03.804
34V E 332957 N 6580923
Non-Violence, also known as The Knotted Gun, is a bronze sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd of an oversized Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver with a knotted barrel and the muzzle pointing upwards.
Waymark Code: WM12342
Location: Sweden
Date Posted: 02/14/2020
Views: 2
Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd made this sculpture after the singer, songwriter and peace activist John Lennon was murdered. One of the originally placed in the Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park. In 1988, the Luxembourg donated it to the United Nations, and the sculpture was moved right outside of the headquarters of the UN.
Since 1993, the sculpture has been the symbol of The Non-Violence Project (NVPF), a nonprofit organization that promotes social change through violence-prevention education programs.
In 2011, Ringo Starr unveiled a version of The Knotted Gun that he entirely painted in memory of John Lennon's 31st year of disappearance.
For the 30th anniversary of the sculpture, the NVPF and the art dealer Hansen Fine Art launched a foot-long version of the sculpture sold online. The United Nations Postal Administration issued three stamps depicting the sculpture. In 2019, the NVPF worked with the Dalai Lama to make 150 small-scale Non-Violence sculptures from melted confiscated guns (Humanium Metal), including one copy signed by the Dalai Lama and auctionned at Sotheby's.
Non-Violence, or The Knotted Gun, is a bronze sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd of an oversized Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver with a knotted barrel and the muzzle pointing upwards. According to Kofi Annan, "It has enriched the consciousness of humanity with a powerful symbol that encapsulates, in a few simple curves, the greatest prayer of man; that which asks not for victory, but for peace."
The Museum of Sketches for Public Art in Lund (Sweden) holds a sketch of the firearm on which Reuterswärd noted that his grief at the murders of Lennon and Bob Crane inspired him to design this artwork.