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Subj: Watchtowers of Peace
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AB03114; Mon, 31 May 93 13:48:54 +0200
Date: Mon, 31 May 1993 13:48:30 +0000
From: nearo01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Michael Rodemer)
Subject: Watchtowers of Peace
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I just called one of the phone numbers listed below and told the people in
the former Yugoslavia to "knock it off and quit killing each other." This
sensible advice will be beamed into Slovenia (which is not at war) after
having been turned into a modulated whistle. Will anybody be listening?
Will anybody *do* anything? Will the world take notice? Need I pose any
more rhetorical questions to which the answers are obvious? NO!
If the sound being blasted across the border is anything like what I heard
on the phone from the answering machine accepting calls, then nobody is
going to understand a thing: a rather ironically appropriate comment on the
actual situation, but -- judging by the quoted announcement below -- rather
far from what was expected.
In other words, this installation was a noble, but dumb, idea.
The installation is symptomatic of the kind of abdication of aesthetic
responsibility to which many artists succumb when they use computers in
their artworks: "Let's feed it all into the computer, randomize or
otherwise process it, and then let this 'profundity' loose on the world."
All too often, unless the piece is *intended* to be about randomness and
disorder, the only thing that emerges is profound confusion and lack of
clarity of thought/feeling. ("Garbage (program) in, garbage (output) out.")
Mr. Forrest may have done and may yet do many wonderful artworks -- but
this one is ill-conceived and only helps reinforce the idea of the
ineffectuality of art as a mode of political action.
Michael Rodemer
###########################################################################
> "THE WATCH-TOWERS OF PEACE"
>
>
> An Art Installation By Fred Forrest (FR)
>
> May 28th - 4th June 1993
>
>
> Installation telephone Numbers:
>
> 0043 3453 5411
> 0043 3453 5412
> 0043 3453 5413
>
>
>TO SEND YOUR MESSAGES OF PEACE TO FORMER YUGOSLAVIA FROM ACROSS THE
>BORDER IN AUSTRIA.
>
>RING THESE NUMBERS FROM EVERY CORNER OF YOUR PLANET TO COVER THE LAND OF
>WAR WITH SLOGANS OF PEACE.
>
>DISSEMINATE YOUR ENERGIES IN REAL TIME THROUGH POSITIVE WAVES.
>
>
>
>
>We would like to draw your attention to an installation that will be
>realised by the artist Fred Forrest within the framework of the European
>Month of Culture in Graez. The installation will incorporate the
>general theme "Entegenzte Grenzen" (Dismissed Borders) and function as
>leading project. It will open in April and can already be considered as
>extraordinary and exemplary.
>
>
>The technological communication media Fred Forrest is going to install
>at the Slovenian border will be placed in such a way that they will look
>in the direction of the former Yugoslavian territory and are called
>"OBSERVATION TOWERS FOR PEACE".
>
>These technological communication media will consist of five sound
>amplifiers connected to computers and the INTERNATIONAL TELEPHONE
>NETWORK. The metal structures designed to carry these strong amplifiers
>will be erected in Ehrenhausen, directly at the Austrian-Slovenian
>border. Through these amplifiers, peace messages are to be emitted in
>real-time mode. These peace messages will be transmitted to the
>amplifiers via telephone from the whole world over.
>
>A computer will be used to transform the messages via synthesizer into
>one collective sound signal. The modulation of this whistling sound
>will change in accordance with both the number of incoming phone calls
>and the distance from which they come.
>
>There is no doubt that the interaction of Fred Forrest's project and its
>symbolic dimension in view of the present geopolitical situation make
>the installation a first class media event and emphasize the meaning of
>our modern society's new forms of communication.
>
>
>
>For more information, please write to:
>
> Fred Forrest
> Territoire Du MZ,
> 60540 Anserville,
> France
>
> Tel 44 08 43 05
> Fax 44 08 59 67
>
>
>
>
> PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS MESSAGE FREELY
=============================================================
Michael Rodemer
Dept. of American Studies
University of Tuebingen
Wilhelmstr. 50
Tuebingen
Germany
rodemer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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CC:
Subj: Watchtowers of Peace
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AB03114; Mon, 31 May 93 13:48:54 +0200
Date: Mon, 31 May 1993 13:48:30 +0000
From: nearo01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Michael Rodemer)
Subject: Watchtowers of Peace
Sender: artnet-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: artnet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Reply-to: artnet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Message-id: <9305311148.AB03114@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Via: UK.AC.MAILBASE; 31 MAY 93 12:53:54 BST
X-Sender: nearo01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Unverified)
Original-Sender: nearo01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I just called one of the phone numbers listed below and told the people in
the former Yugoslavia to "knock it off and quit killing each other." This
sensible advice will be beamed into Slovenia (which is not at war) after
having been turned into a modulated whistle. Will anybody be listening?
Will anybody *do* anything? Will the world take notice? Need I pose any
more rhetorical questions to which the answers are obvious? NO!
If the sound being blasted across the border is anything like what I heard
on the phone from the answering machine accepting calls, then nobody is
going to understand a thing: a rather ironically appropriate comment on the
actual situation, but -- judging by the quoted announcement below -- rather
far from what was expected.
In other words, this installation was a noble, but dumb, idea.
The installation is symptomatic of the kind of abdication of aesthetic
responsibility to which many artists succumb when they use computers in
their artworks: "Let's feed it all into the computer, randomize or
otherwise process it, and then let this 'profundity' loose on the world."
All too often, unless the piece is *intended* to be about randomness and
disorder, the only thing that emerges is profound confusion and lack of
clarity of thought/feeling. ("Garbage (program) in, garbage (output) out.")
Mr. Forrest may have done and may yet do many wonderful artworks -- but
this one is ill-conceived and only helps reinforce the idea of the
ineffectuality of art as a mode of political action.
Michael Rodemer
###########################################################################
> "THE WATCH-TOWERS OF PEACE"
>
>
> An Art Installation By Fred Forrest (FR)
>
> May 28th - 4th June 1993
>
>
> Installation telephone Numbers:
>
> 0043 3453 5411
> 0043 3453 5412
> 0043 3453 5413
>
>
>TO SEND YOUR MESSAGES OF PEACE TO FORMER YUGOSLAVIA FROM ACROSS THE
>BORDER IN AUSTRIA.
>
>RING THESE NUMBERS FROM EVERY CORNER OF YOUR PLANET TO COVER THE LAND OF
>WAR WITH SLOGANS OF PEACE.
>
>DISSEMINATE YOUR ENERGIES IN REAL TIME THROUGH POSITIVE WAVES.
>
>
>
>
>We would like to draw your attention to an installation that will be
>realised by the artist Fred Forrest within the framework of the European
>Month of Culture in Graez. The installation will incorporate the
>general theme "Entegenzte Grenzen" (Dismissed Borders) and function as
>leading project. It will open in April and can already be considered as
>extraordinary and exemplary.
>
>
>The technological communication media Fred Forrest is going to install
>at the Slovenian border will be placed in such a way that they will look
>in the direction of the former Yugoslavian territory and are called
>"OBSERVATION TOWERS FOR PEACE".
>
>These technological communication media will consist of five sound
>amplifiers connected to computers and the INTERNATIONAL TELEPHONE
>NETWORK. The metal structures designed to carry these strong amplifiers
>will be erected in Ehrenhausen, directly at the Austrian-Slovenian
>border. Through these amplifiers, peace messages are to be emitted in
>real-time mode. These peace messages will be transmitted to the
>amplifiers via telephone from the whole world over.
>
>A computer will be used to transform the messages via synthesizer into
>one collective sound signal. The modulation of this whistling sound
>will change in accordance with both the number of incoming phone calls
>and the distance from which they come.
>
>There is no doubt that the interaction of Fred Forrest's project and its
>symbolic dimension in view of the present geopolitical situation make
>the installation a first class media event and emphasize the meaning of
>our modern society's new forms of communication.
>
>
>
>For more information, please write to:
>
> Fred Forrest
> Territoire Du MZ,
> 60540 Anserville,
> France
>
> Tel 44 08 43 05
> Fax 44 08 59 67
>
>
>
>
> PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS MESSAGE FREELY
=============================================================
Michael Rodemer
Dept. of American Studies
University of Tuebingen
Wilhelmstr. 50
Tuebingen
Germany
rodemer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx