Secretary Packer to Address New York City

Media Release
For Immediate Release: August 25, 2004

Secretary Packer to Address New York City
Announcing "10,000 Acts of Artistic Mediation"
At the Freedom of Expression National Monument

WASHINGTON, DC - Secretary Randall M. Packer of the US Department of
Art & Technology will address the citizens of New York City, calling
on them to carry out "10,000 Acts of Artistic Mediation" during the
2004 Republican National Convention. The speech will take place on
Thursday, August 26, 5:00 pm, at the Freedom of Expression National
Monument, Foley Square, at the intersection of Centre & Pearl St. in
New York City. Secretary Packer will be introduced by Andrew Nagy,
Commanding General of the USA Exquisite Corpse, the US Department of
Art & Technology's "Artist Call to Service."

At the invitation of Creative Time and the Lower Manhattan Cultural
Council, Secretary Packer will speak to New York City through the
Freedom of Expression National Monument, an enormous red megaphone,
to voice the thoughts, grievances, and hopes of a nation under siege
of the Republicans. The Secretary hopes to inspire the nation into
action to confront the loss of free speech, power and powerlessness,
and a multiplicity of social and cultural concerns in these
post-apocalyptic times.

The Secretary will announce the US Department of Art & Technology's
Experimental Party DisInformation Center, a state-of-the-art media
installation that subverts Republican propaganda, currently on view
at LUXE gallery in NYC. Additionally, he will reveal numerous acts of
artistic mediation already in various stages of planning: from Johnny
America's march down Lexington Avenue in colonial garb declaring "The
Republicans are Coming;" to the Revelers who will mount the Staten
Island Ferry and stage a heroic "Crossing of New York Harbor" to
liberate Manhattan from the Bush Loyalists; to the Missile Dick
Chicks, a posse of pissed-off housewives from Crawford, Texas charged
with opposing consumerism by singing songs like "Shop! In the Name of
War."

The Secretary added, "Like other totalitarian movements, the
Republicans seek to impose a grim vision in which dissent is crushed,
and every man and woman must think and live in colorless conformity.
We offer to the oppressed peoples of our nation and around the world,
the great alternative of human liberty through freedom of artistic
expression. Our country must never allow the Republicans to preach
religious extremism with 9-11, to use New York City and Ground Zero
as the pulpit for its ideologies."

As Reverend Billy poetically declared, "we have to match that
theater, to supplant it, and the RNC is going to be our 9th Symphony."

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The US Department of Art & Technology
http://www.usdat.us

The US Department of Art and Technology is the United States
principal conduit for facilitating the artist's need to extend
aesthetic inquiry into the broader culture where ideas become real
action. It also serves the psychological and spiritual well-being of
all Americans by supporting cultural efforts that provide immunity
from the extension of new media technologies into the social sphere.

The Experimental Party DisInformation Center
http://www.experimentalparty.org

From August 21 to September 4, the US Department of Art & Technology
presents the Experimental Party DisInformation Center, "anarchic
entertainment for the nation," at the LUXE gallery, 24 W. 57th St. in
New York City. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am - 6pm. The
installation closes on Saturday, September 4, 6 - 8 PM, with the
Post-Mortem Lounge.

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