At the occasion of the Venice Biennale in June 2007 children, ages 8-13, in schools throughout Venice made drawings to express their thoughts on the theme of tolerance. The colorful drawings were then knit together to make the sail of a fantasy ship designed by the artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov.

The “ship of tolerance,” where the sail will be made up of colorful artwork produced by chosen groups of six to 13 year-old schoolchildren-turned-artists, will be built, along the model of the existing Ship of Siwa in Egypt, by the artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, with the help of local carpenters in each city.

These exhibitions will be accompanied by a “Ships of Tolerance” documentary film and a children’s book showing the building of the three ships of tolerance, including the assembling of the sails, and the creative process leading to the creation of these artworks. The interaction between the children, at each stage, is key to the message of tolerance, and will be captured and portrayed in the film and book.

Here is a video of the event: