Operation Artistic Freedom

American and international artists have begun a concerted campaign ñ Operation Artistic Freedom. Our coalition is broad and from across the globe.

In this declaration of war on war, our cause is just. Artists are all that stand between a world at peace, and a world of chaos and constant risk. And our mission is clear, to carry out 10,000 Acts of Artistic Mediation, in defense of humanity.

The future of peace and democracy now depend on artistic forces. WE must conduct ourselves in the highest traditions of the avant-garde. WE must do our job with skill, imagination, and bravery, and with the finest of cultural critics beside us. At every stage of this conflict the world will see the power of the artist, freed from the limits and constraints of the dominant culture, to construct temporary settings of life and their transformation into a higher passionate nature.

I want Americans and all the world to know that coalition artistic forces will make every effort to spare innocent civilians from war cries and religious crusades, which now appear to be leading us quickly and inevitably down the path to the Day of Reckoning.

A campaign in these times of extraordinary crisis could be longer and more difficult than some have predicted. Yet, in a whirlwind of madness and horror, terror and peril, hail and fire, our faith is sure, our resolve is firm, and our artistic union is strong.

I call on the most progressive artists and intellectuals of all nations to put an end to these terrible threats endangering the civilized world.

Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply artistic forces of virtualization. I say, virtualization remains the greatest power on earth! With that tremendous power alone; we will shock and awe!

This will not be a campaign of half-measures. We will fight for the security and peace of the world, and we will accept no outcome but victory.

Virtualization is the international expression of our times, the great rebellion of aesthetic mobilization.

Thank you.

Randall M. Packer
Secretary, US Department of Art & Technology