Welcome to the new ‘Beauty without Irony’ website!


 

Where lovers of true beauty and haters of hypocrisy and hypes come together1

Beauty without Irony wants to become a place where lovers of true beauty and haters of hypocrisy and hypes come together- although we don’t really ‘do’ hate, since we prefer to focus on the positive at all times.
Do you want to make the world a more beautiful place? Do you have something amazing to show, or do you know an artist who would fit perfectly in our online art collective? Please let us know and meanwhile, get inspired by what you see here.

When I started art collective ‘Beauty without Irony’ (BWI) back in 2001, I didn’t yet know what impact the concept would have in the years to come- and maybe that’s a good thing, as I like an organic  step by step approach –big steps sometimes, but still...
Three years later I founded NGO ‘designers against AIDS’ (DAA) as an offshoot of BWI, with the idea that to make the world more beautiful, you can either add more beauty (BWI) or try to take away/prevent some of its ugliness (DAA).

The first campaigns of DAA were done almost completely with BWI artists and since then we have grown considerably: our first Internatonal HIV/AIDS Awareness Education Center (IHAEC) opens on December 1st (World AIDS Day) in Antwerp, Belgium with plans of a second center in Los Angeles, our first book ‘Designers against AIDS: The First Decade!’ is published this week by Ludion (www.ludion.be), since 4 years we do global campaigns with H&M called ‘Fashion against AIDS’...the list goes on and on.
I felt that the time was right to launch the new ‘Beauty without Irony’ website in the same week that the book is being launched, as BWI is where it all began and the inspiration that pure beauty brings to people is essential in daily life: it lifts your spirits, makes you feel happy and grateful to be alive- and will hopefully also make you want to help other people who aren’t as well off as you are.
I love the idea of pop culture as a tool for social change and activism and I hope that we can achieve a lot more here and via other social media.

Please send us your best photos, videos, texts , music and ideas and let the BWI revolution continue!

Ninette Murk, October 26, 2010

most viewed

  1. Our sister organization NGO Designers against AIDS (DAA) has the Twitter account _DAA and they're trying to organize #PersonalTweetsOnlyDay on September 1st. Here you can find out why.

  2. Beauty without Irony wants to become a place where lovers of true beauty and haters of hypocrisy and hypes come together- although we don’t really ‘do’ hate, since we prefer to focus on the positive at all times.
    Do you want to make the world a more beautiful place? Do you have something amazing to show, or do you know an artist who would fit perfectly in our online art collective? Please let us know and meanwhile, get inspired by what you see here.

  3. This still is from a video installation by contemporary artist Marie Julia Bollanssée- I love the atmosphere and the colours!

  4. Last Friday the DAA book launch and charity auction at Campo & Campo took place and fun was had by all...

  5. On Friday October 29 auction house Campo & Campo in Antwerp auctioned many art works made by photographers and other contemporary artists who also contributed to our new book 'Designers against AIDS: The First Decade!'.

    From the almost 50 works on offer, only 4 didn't sell because they didn't reach the minimum price, so we can say that the auction was a big success. All proceeds go to benefit DAA's new Education Center and a big thanks goes out to everybody who has made this auction and the book possible- you are all superstars! Enjoy the collage of the sold works, made for DAA by Michael James O'Brien and Zoltan Gerliczki.

  6. Over 100 artists are featured in the book, but many more have sent us work....

  7. The making of this book has been pretty intense for a lot of people, so when it arrived from the printers today, a collective sigh of relief could be heard from Antwerp to ...well, to everywhere. Well done, us!

  8. For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality.

  9. We're quite taken with this video called A Warm Place which was made by Jeff Morris in Yosemite Park in California USA. The power of nature is without compare and we're in awe of her beauty.

  10. Beauty without Irony (the art collective that gave birth to Designers against AIDS in 2001) wants to make the world more beautiful by using elements from pop culture to raise awareness about the fact  that life is worth living and that true beauty, love, friendship, health and nature bring lots more- and longer lasting-  joy than expensive handbags, villas or yachts.