Mars Attack American Pavilion, 51st Venice Biennale

US Department of Art & Technology
Washington, DC

Office of the Press Secretary, [email protected]
For Immediate Release: June 13, 2005

MARS ATTACK AMERICAN PAVILION
AS US DAT BEGINS RECLAMATION
http://www.usdat.us/secretary

VENICE - During the initial phase of the US DAT reclamation of the
American Pavilion, an attack was staged by renegade insurgents from
the Mars Pavilion.

The event occurred while US DAT Secretary-at-Large Randall M. Packer
was conducting a Situational Tour on the opening day of the Venice
Biennale. Two insurgents invaded the American Pavilion in the wake of
anti-American sentiment that was apparently inflamed by Ed Ruscha's
exhibition, "Course of Empire." After penetrating the Pavilion, with
its Jeffersonian symmetrical, neo-classic architecture, they took
time in front of one of Ruscha's paintings to question the artist's
depiction of the deterioration of urban landscapes.

For more information on the Mars Attack and to follow the reportage
from the aesthetic edge of the Secretary-at-Large at the 51st Venice
Biennale, visit the Department's Website:

http://www.usdat.us/secretary

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

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aesthetic inquiry into the broader culture where ideas become real
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from the extension of new media technologies into the social sphere.

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