A 20-foot-high aluminum monument for the UN designed by Oscar-winning filmmaker and graphic designer Arnold Schwartzman, titled “Shells Into Bells,” was unveiled in Seoul, Korea at the Korean War Memorial on December 20, 2013.
The British-born graphic designer (above), who won his Oscar in 1981 for producing and directing the documentary feature “Genocide,” designed the peace monument for the Korean informational Association.
The memorial’s bell is cast from shrapnel gathered from the Demilitarized Zone, and is suspended from two links of a chain forming the letters UN, to symbolize a binding link between the nations that assisted South Korea during the Korean conflict. The monument stands on a circular stone base straddling the United Nations crest and is surrounded by the flags of those nations. Schwartzman said he took his inspiration from the famous Biblical quote, “…to beat swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks…” A documentary feature on Schwartzman’s career, which was broadcast this year on Korean national television, lead to the invitation to design the memorial.
