March of 2013 was a historic month for Control Arms Coalition. While the United Nations held a final conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, Control Arms developed a disruptive campaign to help the cause and put pressure on diplomats to approve it.

Considering the fact that people don’t get easily surprised these days, Control Arms used an attention-grabbing strategy to engage its audience. 'The Exhibition That Shouldn’t Exist' portrayed a reality that many don’t see. It was a collection of paintings that looked like abstract art, until their descriptions revealed their whole stories.

Displayed among ordinary artwork, each painting had a singular red pattern as a result of a gunshot violence. Below each description, a QR-code triggered a video showing how that painting was done. The exhibition began in Lisbon, where the ballistics tests happened. Then it moved to New York, to be strategically displayed in places where UN diplomats were.

Summing up the results, through controlarms.org/takeaction, the cause reached 143% of its goal on Thunderclap, spreading its message through 814,697 people simultaneously via Facebook posts and tweets. And last but not least, Arms Trade Treaty approved on April 2 by U.N. diplomats, with a contribution of Control Arms.

Nowadays, tragedies are all over the media. People don’t get easily surprised or shocked anymore, so we had to be disruptive to engage the audience and to put pressure on diplomats to approve the treaty.

- Through controlarms.org/takeaction, the cause reached 143% of its goal on Thunderclap, spreading its message through 814,697 people simultaneously via Facebook posts and tweets.

- Media coverage and repercussion: SIC News Channel, iOnline Newspaper, several blogs and websites.

- Arms Trade Treaty approved on April 2th by U.N. diplomats, with a contribution of Control Arms.

- During this year, governments will have to ratify it and the exhibition will keep on moving to pursue its implementation.

Placed among ordinary artwork, each painting had a singular red pattern and its description revealed its story: 'Student gang-raped and killed', 'Reporter executed by terrorist group' and 'Young girl, victim of a stray bullet'. Below each description, a QR-code triggered a video showing how that painting was done.

The exhibition began in Lisbon, where the ballistics tests happened. Then it moved to New York, to be strategically displayed in places where UN diplomats were.

Plus, the exhibition also had an online version at shouldntexist.com, so others could have the same experience.

Control Arms, a coalition of more than a hundred NGO’s, has been campaigning over the past ten years to approve the Arms Trade Treaty. In March 2013, the United Nations held a final conference to discuss it and Control Arms wanted to create awareness in order to get it approved by U.N diplomats.

'The Exhibition That Shouldn’t Exist' portrayed a reality that many don’t see. It was a collection of paintings designed to look like abstract art in a first sight. But when people read their description, they realized they were actually in front of gunshots stories.