Net Art / Media Installation / Performance

“To prevent undue wreckage in society, the artist tends now to move from the ivory to the control tower of society.” – Marshall McLuhan

The US Department of Art & Technology (USDAT) was an artist-led, virtual government agency created in the aftermath of September 11th to insert the artist’s voice into times of extraordinary crisis. During its brief four year period of activity, the USDAT functioned as a conduit between the arts and the broader political and economic culture for facilitating the artist’ need to extend aesthetic inquiry into the social sphere where ideas become real action. The Department proposed and supported the idealized definition of the role of the artist in society as one whose reflections, ideas, aesthetics, sensibilities, and abilities can have significant and transformative social impact on the world stage.Unfortunately, as the nation descended into war and chaos during the tumultuous Bush years, the Department came to an end in 2005, but its spirit continued as Secretary-at-Large Randall M. Packer descended into the Underworld of America, still determined to change the world. This story is told in the epic account, A Season in Hell.

Project Website and Official Archives of the US Department of Art & Technology: http://www.usdat.us

Photos

• George W. Bush nominates Randall M. Packer as the Secretary of the newly formed US Department of Art & Technology shortly after September 11th, 2001.
• Randall M. Packer is sworn as the Secretary of the US Department of Art & Technology by Alice Denney, a leading figure and supporter of the avant-garde in the Washington arts community. November 19, 2001.
• Official headquarters of the US Department of Art & Technology, where the US Department of the Interior was formerly located. 2001.
• Secretary Randall M. Packer descends the steps of the US Capitol after a meeting with Congress defending artistic freedom. 2002.
• Randall M. Packer looks out at the US Capitol from his office at the US Department of Art & Technology. 2002.
• andall M. Packer looking out from the US Capitol, contemplating the future of the integration of art and technology.
• Secretary Randall M. Packer gives a speech at the Transmediale Festival of Media in Berlin, where he declares: Ich ein Berliner Kunstler. February 5, 2003.
• Staff members of the US Department of Art & Technology raise a collective toast to the artist as a mediator on the world stage, at the World Mediation Summit, Goethe Institute, Washington, DC. May 24, 2002.
• Secretary Randall M. Packer delivers a speech in front of the US Capitol authorizing acts of artistic mediation. The President and the First Lady look on. November 15, 2002.
• The USDAT Visitor Center is installed at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, across the street from the White House.
• Speaking into the megaphone of the Freedom of Expression National Monument in New York City, Secretary Packer delivers the “10,000 Acts of Artistic Mediation” speech during the 2004 Republican National Convention. August 26, 2004.
• At the White Box Gallery in New York City, shortly after the 2004 Republican National Convention, Secretary Packer delivers the “Democracy is Fun” speech.
• USDAT installs a vitrine of official documents at the White Box gallery in New York City, taken from the Experimental Party Disinformation Center, established during the 2004 National Republican Convention.
• I then invoked techniques of virtualization to suspend all powers of disbelief and erased the American Pavilion and its contents.
• The archives of the US Department of Art & Technology were installed at the former George H. W. Bush Library at Texas A & M University.
• On the back of the library reads the words of Secretary Randall M. Packer, as a testament to future generations of artists.

Video

State of the Union [The Fateful Embrace]

A re-enactment of the 2005 State of the Union address delivered by George W. Bush, set to the Leibestod of Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde.