Electronic Gallery Project Will Feature Gilles Peress' Photographs

NEW YORK, NY, May 29, 1996 -- The New York Times on the Web has announced an interactive multimedia photojournalism project that will chronicle Bosnia's struggle for peace. To be launched June 10th, Bosnia: Uncertain Paths to Peace, will feature an electronic gallery of more than one hundred and fifty images by renowned photojournalist Gilles Peress, and a month-long worldwide discussion on war and peace in the former Yugoslavia. Anyone with Internet access can view and participate in the project without charge or registration at: http://www.nytimes.com/bosnia

Bosnia: Uncertain Paths to Peace will encourage participation from individuals all over the world, particularly in locations closest to the conflict and its unfolding resolution. Internet connections are being established in Sarajevo so Bosnians themselves can take part. Terminals linked to the Web site are being installed by IBM at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands, annat the United Nations in New York. Global discussions will be initiated on the political, social and cultural issues raised by the war.

Peress images are a personal and journalistic chronicle of the final weeks of the siege of Sarajevo, including the exodus of the Serbs from the city's suburbs. The interactive photo essay, combined with the photographer's narrative, provides the viewer with information and experiences similar to those encountered by journalists witnessing the end of the war.

Peress is known for his photographic coverage of conflicts in Iran,Northern Ireland, Rwanda, and Bosnia. Viewers will be encouraged to submit comments and reactions. Individuals in the former Yugoslavia will be invited to email their own accounts of events.

More than ten Internet forums will be conducted by leading intellectual and political figures specializing in different aspects of the Bosnia conflict, including the war and its destruction, preceding historical events, the religious dimension, and political ramifications. Bernard Gwertzman,senior editor and former foreign editor of The New York Times, will oversee the forums. Hosts and participants will include:

Madeleine Albright, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Ervin Staub, professor of psychology studying genocide at the University of Massachusetts

     Steve Walker, formerly of the U.S. State Department
     Manuela Dobos, professor of Balkanology at the City
University of NY
     Bono of U2 and The Passengers, producer of "Miss Sarajevo"
     Aryeh Neier, president of the Soros Foundation & the Open
      Society Institute
     Christiane Amanpour, senior international correspondent
        for CNN

Users can also access multimedia background materials, color maps, audio clips, archival articles from New York Times correspondents, and links to relevant sites on the Web. Highlights of discussions and forum contributions will be posted regularly on the site. The site itself will remain accessible until August.

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