US Department of Art & Technology
PO Box 32265 Washington, DC
http://www.usdept-arttech.net
press@usdept-arttech.net

Press Secretary
For Immediate Release: June 19, 2002


Secretary Packer to Address
World Mediation Summit
Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, DC - On June 19, 7:00 PM (EST), the Secretary of the US
Department of Art & Technology, Randall M. Packer, will deliver the
following speech at the World Mediation Summit in Washington, DC,
minutes before the signing of the Covenant of the Articles of
Artistic Mediation. Department staff, members of the Washington arts
community, and cultural officials from six nations will be
participating in the event. The Covenant, collectively co-authored by
artists, curators, and cultural critics from around the world, is
being presented to the US Department of State.

The following is the transcript of the speech:

Speech by Randall M. Packer
Secretary, US Department of Art & Technology
To the World Mediation Summit
Upon Signing of the Covenant of the Articles of Artistic Mediation

June 19, 2002
Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes
Washington, DC

***********

It's an honor to thank those artists who have heeded a great call:
those who collectively co-authored the Covenant of the Articles of
Artistic Mediation, which we are presenting tonight to the US
Department of State. It's a universal call, and it's a call that has
been applicable throughout history. It's really needed right now.

The reason we're here tonight is to unleash the talents of the artist
as a mediator on the world stage. I appreciate the cooperation of the
Goethe-Institut to stage this event right here in the nation's
capital. Because this is a critical gesture that I hope will
encourage cultural dialogue and understanding throughout the nation.
It's an urgent time for the artist to act. And I think it's going to
help America, along with the rest of the world, cope in these times
of crisis and national insecurity.

This really isn't about any political party, I want to assure you.
It's a way to make sure citizens of the world are as hopeful as they
possibly can be.

The events of September the 11th were an incredibly dark moment. But
the thing I'm most proud about is, through the darkness, is the
emergence of a new era of socially engaged art. This is really an
unbelievable country we live in. A place where heroes risked their
lives, and where artists responded with incredible insight. It was a
remarkable moment, it really was. It was a test of our character.
While many were busy waving the flag, artists and cultural critics in
America and throughout the world have probed deep into the issues of
cultural divisiveness in order to help guide us through these
perilous times. They have rallied together, via the Internet, through
their art, their writing, and their vision, to point out that
everything is at stake, and that we have everything to lose, in these
apocalyptic times. In the words of our Deputy Undersecretary Robert
Atkins, "Being the most complex form of knowledge, art IS the best
hope for subtle, nuanced communication."

This power of cultural action can go well beyond military aggression,
and can help us rise above the hopeless notion of "overcoming evil"
or "rooting out terror." Yes, we will take action, I want to assure
you, but we don't seek death and destruction, we seek a victory of
the human spirit. And I believe that if we're patient and resolved
and united, that out of these acts of artistic mediation could come
lasting peace - peace in regions of the world that might appear now
they cannot be peaceful.

I believe we can achieve peace by listening to the artist. Peace is
the cornerstone of the artistic sensibility, it's what we aim for. As
the Iowan artist Ava Su GanWei said so well, "Our society has it
backwards, art should be freed from the museums and galleries… it
should be on the streets. But violence and war - they belong in a
place where they can be studied." There are going to be some tough
moments achieving this peace. But you need to know that we're going
to be plenty tough when we need to be tough. And we're going to stay
focused on fighting homeland insecurity, caused by those who would
foolishly believe they can root out every trace of evil from human
existence. That's our call. History has called us into action, and we
must and we will respond.

But we need to do more than just make the country less insecure. We
need to make our country and the world a better place. We must be
more than just a military might. We must show our resolve through
cultural understanding: for according to John Young, our Under
Secretary of the Bureau for the Blurring of the Real & the Virtual,
"As we inhabit the 21st century, do we choose to take up the
challenge of crafting a new vision of global compassion, or fall back
upon antiquated notions of diplomacy at gunpoint?"

We have got to recognize that because we're a rich and powerful
nation, we inspire despair and hopelessness in countries that suffer
from extreme poverty and political instability. There are too many
people throughout the world who wonder whether or not America is a
destructive force. And so part of our struggle in making the country
and the world less insecure is to mediate these differences in the
universal language of artistic expression. As David Baime, our
Assistant Secretary for Legislation & Congressional Affairs so
eloquently said, "art alone provides the reflection of reality. Art
is as perennial as the grass, and may our good government sow its
seed, so as to reap its splendor." And the place to start is
understanding that the world can be changed one word, one note, one
frame, one pixel at a time.

The artist can't do everything. But the artist can do something to
help. And their job as social provocateurs, appropriators,
liberators, and citizens deeply committed to virtualization and the
suspension of disbelief, is to gather that great compassion for
critical insight, the spectacle, and distaste for the status quo, to
change our ineffective paradigms, to change the world. And for those
who have contributed to the efforts of the US Department of Art &
Technology, including tonight's World Mediation Summit, they are
doing a great job of that, and I want to thank them.

My job is to continue to address the spirit of the artist, their role
in society, to call upon the best, and I will do so. Let this be a
reminder to those who want to confront the human reality of terror,
they should turn to the arts and its many forms of expression.
"Violence is an expression of speechlessness, of lack of
communication," according to the German media artist Agricola de
Cologne. The artist recognizes problems when they exist and works to
solve those problems, to eliminate the hurdles and barriers that lead
to violence and aggression.

Government must not turn a blind eye to the artist. There must be a
level playing field available and a role for the artist as a mediator
and a player on the world stage. We need to remember that in our
society, artists can move people in ways that government never can.

In order to understand the eternal, existential struggle between good
and evil, that now paralyzes our government, we must invent, we must
create, we must virtualize, and we must use our imaginations! As
Andre Breton said, "perhaps the imagination is on the verge of
recovering its rights."

In the gathering momentum of these acts of artistic mediation, which
reveal what the artist is truly made of, we stand on the first
promontory of the new centuries. Why should we look back, when what
we want is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible!

And so, I now have the great honor of joining my colleagues in
signing the Covenant of the Articles of Artistic Mediation and
delivering it to the US Department of State.

Thank you.

URLs:
US Department of Art & Technology: http://www.usdept-arttech.net

Contact: Press Secretary of the US Department of Art & Technology
press@usdept-arttech.net

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