ITA ENG

SPEECH FOR THE END OF TIME: An InterVene

(Remixed from President Bush’s speech delivered at Camp LeJeune, April 3, 2003; (Packer 2003) Prayer for Empire (Abe Golam) remixed from John Ashcroft’s speech, (?)

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary April 26, 2003

Secretary Delivers "Speech for the End of Time" Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC

On April 23rd, 7:44 PM (EST) in Washington, DC, Secretary Randall M. Packer of the US Department of Art & Technology completed his nationwide tour at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC to deliver the "Speech for the End of Time," announcing the activation of the Experimental Party, the artist-based political party, the "party of experimentation," and its latest initiative, "10,000 Acts of Artistic Mediation."

In his Washington address, Secretary Packer called on coalition artists "to inspire other artists into action by undergoing aesthetic operation as a form of magic designed as a mediation between our strange hostile world and the human spirit."

The following is the transcript:

THE SECRETARY: Thank you all very much. Thank you all so very much for that warm welcome. It's such an honor to be here.

There's no finer image - no finer image - than to imagine 10,000 Acts of Artistic Mediation - (Applause) - unless you happen to be a member of the Bush Administration. (Applause.)

For more than 100 years, the avant-garde has gone forth from its studios and garrets to fight for utopian aspirations and social transformation.

Now today's artists have entered a fierce struggle against a grave danger, the gravest danger facing America and the world, the existential darkness that has possessed our government, that grips its soul.

As the artistic forces of our coalition advance, we learn more about the deep fear that has been instilled in the American psyche. Yet, no mental infection, no derangement, will divert us from our mission. They are blind to the fact that, with all their rationality and efficiency, they are possessed by "powers" that are beyond control. We will not stop until their hidden desires and dark fantasies are revealed. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, Secretary Packer! (Applause.)

THE SECRETARY: When freedom needs defending, America turns to its artists. It's our job, it's what we do.

This is a time of hardship for many artists. Some of them have been separated from their loved ones for quite a while because of long deployments. All of America is grateful for their sacrifice. And Phyllis and I are here to thank each one of them. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes, we're here to thank the artists! (Applause.)

SECRETARY: Yes, we're here to thank the artists.

As you may know, this address at Johns Hopkins University concludes a nationwide tour announcing "10,000 Acts of Artistic Mediation," which began a few months ago in Los Angeles. First, I want to thank Victoria Vesna, Under Secretary of the Bureau for Communications Beyond the Corporeal for her hospitality and leadership in hosting my recent speech at the University of California, Los Angeles.

I want to thank Director of the Office of Freedom of Speech, Mark Amerika, the author of Grammatron, for his leadership and strength in bringing the Secretary to the University of Colorado, Boulder to deliver the "Speech of the Rockies." Boulder is a charming town not often visited by dignitaries. (Applause.)

I appreciate so very much my New York host Alex Galloway, Under Secretary of the Bureau for Rhizomatics, Community & Generative Data, and staff members of the US Department of Art & Technology, who celebrated my "Speech @ Zero Hour" at New York University.

And here in the nation's capital, all around Washington, DC, are emerging signs of the artistic achievements of the US Department of Art & Technology.

It was just 18 months ago that I was sworn into office, since then, the Department has added new achievements to its great story. (Applause.)

In my first European Address at the Transmediale Festival of Media in Berlin, I had the privilege of being introduced by the Cultural Attaché of the US Embassy in Berlin. Our mission was accomplished with his moving introduction describing the role of the US Department of Art & Technology in furthering cultural relations, particularly, in these times of crisis. (Applause.) In my speech, I called on US and our European and Asian allied artists to join the Global Virtualization Council as artist-ambassadors in order to mobilize our forces internationally.

That job was done by our artist-Ambassadors in a collective toast of Havana Club Rum. It's what we do. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Cheers!

SECRETARY: Thank you. There's nothing like illegal booze for diplomatic events.

Our official escort service then brought us to the World Mediation Summit at the Goethe Institute in Washington, DC, where our dedicated staff, along with cultural officials from France, Belgium and Austria, furthered its mission to act as cultural mediators, showing its unrelenting courage worthy of its name by signing the Covenant of the Articles of Artistic Mediation, followed by another collective toast from the Official Bottle of Havana Rum and transmitting this historic document to the US Department of State. (Applause.)

And last fall on the eve of war, accompanied again by our dedicated staff, who stood in the freezing rain, I gave a speech at the US Capitol, where we were joined by the President and First Lady, to announce that the US Department of Art & Technology, together with the Global Virtualization Council, had set out on a daring mission - thanks to their skill and courage - in which they drafted and passed unanimously the Joint Resolution US DAT J.RES.1 "To Authorize Artistic Acts of Mediation" - in response to the administration's self-created and deadly dangers. (Applause.)

These missions are difficult and they are dangerous, but no one becomes a artist because it's easy. (Applause.) Now our coalition moves forward.

Artists are in the thick of the battle. And make no mistake about it, what we have begun, Operation Artistic Freedom, we will finish. (Applause.) For as the great American hero William Burroughs proclaimed, "Weapons that change consciousness will call the war game in question."

At this hour, coalition artists now undertake aesthetic action that is not static, but moves externally and takes part in the creation of new forms. Our Special Technology Forces, collaborating with engineers and scientists, are discovering new tactics which stand at the cradle of art and science. (Applause.)

1 2 3 4 5 6 of >> 7