[-empyre-] -empyre- welcomes representatives from the US Department of Art and Technology

[Michael Arnold Mages <marnoldm@du.edu>]

The members of the U.S. Department of Art and Technology will do whatever it
takes to keep America safe. That means amplifying our intelligence, taking
action on all key fronts, and deconstructing and re-writing media texts.

The US Department of Art & Technology is an artist-led, virtual government
agency. The US DAT functions as a conduit between the arts and the broader
political and economic culture for facilitating the artists' need to extend
aesthetic inquiry into the social sphere where ideas become real action. The
Department proposes and supports 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.

Secretary Randall M. Packer: Head of the US Department of Art and Technology
and chief media arts advisory for the Federal Government, Secretary Packer
represents the United States in aesthetic and cultural matters generally and
gives advice and opinions to the President and to the heads of the executive
departments of the Government when so requested.

Joining Secretary Packer throughout the month are many of the agents and
staff artists for the USDAT.  Some of those attending will be: Under
Secretary for the Office of Artist & Homeland Insecurity, Jeff Gates;
Director of the Bureau of Pharmakogeographical Surveying, Trace Reddell;
Commanding General of Operation Artistic Freedom, Andrew Nagy.

Among the recent projects undertaken by the USDAT are:

---> The Experimental Party DisInformation Center, an immersive media
installation subverting Republican propaganda. Three years in the making,
the installation is the culmination of a project started by US Department of
Art & Technology Secretary Randall M. Packer in 2001 when he created a
³virtual government agency² as a critique of the role of the artist in
society. 
http://www.experimentalparty.org/

---> Media Deconstruction Kit (MDK): MDK is a real-time system that alters
broadcast media live and in real-time, transforming news stories,
advertising, political pundancy, live up-dates, scrolls, and network logos
into an immersive, sensorial, multimedia experience. (Randall Packer, Wesley
Smith)
http://www.experimentalparty.org/mdk

---> WetheBlog.org: A medium that offers an artistic alternative to the
spin-doctors of the political parties. WetheBlog.org is the virtual
community to participate in with media artists, cultural critics and other
creative people who are repositioning themselves as new leaders in the
governance of this planet. (Jeff Gates)
http://wetheblog.org

---> Homeland Insecurity Advisory System: A Web-based initiative designed to
broadcast the daily threat condition confronting citizens of the US and
around the world due to the risk of our government-in-action. (Jonah
Brucker-Cohen)
http://www.usinsecurity.us