The Red Book - Ode to Battle

The Red Book – Ode to Battle, is the fourth book of artist and thinker Helene Lundbye Petersen's 'Colour Spectrum of 11 Spaces'. The Colour Spectrum is an artwork comprised of eleven manuscripts that seek to explore the complexities of contemporary life and represent spaces of courage, perspective, inspiration and hope. Five of the books within 'Colour Spectrum of 11 Spaces' form the series 'A Mythology on our Current Condition of Life'. Through their dramatic narratives and use of visual language to unfold existential questions, myths have a unique ability to express complex aspects of life. Working from the premise that we are existentially faced with a new human condition, these books suggest a way to criticize, deconstruct and eventually comprehend contemporary life via five fundamental concepts: Wisdom (Blue), Pleasure (Orange), War (Red), Love (Green) and Balance (Yellow). These five concepts are embodied by five Goddesses, each of whom explores Her roles and responsibilities - to question the way She sees the world, to relate to what has changed in the human condition, to grasp the overwhelming complexity of our current conflicts and to understand the technological revolution that is dissolving the borders that once defined human existence. The Red Book – Ode to Battle - the third of the Mythology series - follows A Goddess of War, who rules all that drives us in life, such as our ambitions, desires and will. The Goddess of War is forced to stop her endless ride over the eternal battlefields of our actions and is confronted with the concept of meaninglessness that allows for her to look back on our actions and realise all the destruction she has caused, forcing her to understand the root of why we go to destructive war instead of leading constructive battles. The book begins with a body that is evoked to unleash that force that we all hold within us, which makes us do and act throughout our lives. But once unleashed, this force is also uncontrollable, and what you do with it, is for you to decide.