[Nettime-bold] Re:<nettime> BUSH ANNOUNCES US DEPT. OF ART & TECHNOLOGY

["Etaoin Shrdlu" <grogg@rsub.com>]

Is this a hoax: www.usdept-arttech.net?
�We are working across government to accelerate the growth of a seamless, interdisciplinary-minded society. 

� We are encouraging cross-agency portals to serve specific artist groups and members of the avant-garde. 

� We are transforming the way government at all levels delivers culture to you and the way you interact with our nation's artists. � 

The way government delivers culture to you? Cross-agency portals? A seamless, interdisciplinary-minded society? This is a frightening mix of expired dot.com and net.art jargon, served up on a platter of borg mentality and culture as commodity. Art as the government's medium. 

A frightening joke, because it is almost believable. 
-e.s.




n Tue, 6 Nov 2001 10:03:05 -0500 "US Dept. of Art & Technology" <press@usdept-arttech.net> wrote:
>US Department of Art & Technology
>Washington, DC
>http://www.usdept-arttech.net
>press@usdept-arttech.net
>
>Press Secretary
>For Immediate Release: November 6, 2001
>
>PRESIDENT BUSH ANNOUNCES EXECUTIVE ORDER
>US DEPARTMENT OF ART & TECHNOLOGY
>NEW ARTIST-BASED INITIATIVE
>
>I take great joy in making this announcement. It's going to be one of 
>the most important initiatives that my administration not only 
>discusses, but implements.
>
>This is a collection of some of the finest America has got to offer 
>-- artists who create with their hearts, and in turn, have changed 
>the communities in which they live for the better. This is a great 
>example of the strength and diversity and compassion of our country.
>
>This is a diverse group, but who share things in common. They provide 
>more than aesthetic appeal to the people of our country. They touch 
>and change hearts.  And for this, America is deeply appreciative, 
>particularly in these times of crisis.
>
>Everyone in this room knows firsthand that there are still deep needs 
>in society that are confronted by America's artists who have brought 
>technology into their work. Problems like cyber-addiction and 
>abandonment, pornographic violence, mental illness, loss of identity 
>through the mediation of reality, and now, the threat of terrorist 
>activity across the heartland. We are called by conscience to respond.
>
>As I said in my inaugural address, compassion is the work of a 
>nation, not just a government. It is more than the calling of 
>politicians; it is the calling of artists.  It is artists who turn 
>mean streets into good neighborhoods. It is artists who turn cold 
>cities into real communities.
>
>It is one of the great goals of my administration to invigorate the 
>spirit of involvement and cultural engagement. We will encourage 
>artist-based community programs without changing their mission. We 
>will help all in their work to change hearts while keeping a 
>commitment to freedom of expression.
>
>I approach this goal with some basic principles: Government has 
>important responsibilities to the social condition and the spiritual 
>growth of the individual. Yet when we see social needs in America, my 
>administration will look first to artist-based programs, which have 
>proven their power to transform lives. When artists provide insight 
>into the cultural impact of emerging new technologies, we will 
>support them.
>
>As long as there are cultural needs, artist-based organizations 
>should be able to compete for funding on an equal basis, and in a 
>manner that does not cause them to sacrifice their mission. And we 
>will make sure that help goes to large organizations and to small 
>ones as well. We value large organizations with generations of 
>experience. We also value community artists, who have only the scars 
>of being on the wrong side of the digital divide.
>
>Today I am turning these principles into a legislative agenda.  I am 
>sending to Congress a series of ideas and proposals.  Today, in time 
>of war, I want to raise the priority and profile of these issues 
>within my own administration. I want to ensure that artists and 
>artist-based organizations will always have a place at the table in 
>our deliberations.
>
>In a few moments, I will sign an executive order. This order will 
>create a new government agency, the United States Department of Art 
>and Technology. The Secretary of this office will report directly to 
>me and be charged with important responsibilities.  He will oversee 
>our initiatives on this issue. He will make sure our government, 
>where it works with the arts, is fair and supportive. And he will 
>highlight artists who have engaged technology in their work and are 
>confronting issues critical to our understanding of new technologies 
>and their cultural implications as national models so others can 
>learn from them. For as British artist Wyndham Lewis articulated  so 
>well: "The artist is always engaged in writing a detailed history of 
>the future because he is the only person aware of the nature of the 
>present."
>
>And now it is my honor to sign the executive order. (Applause.)
>
>##
>
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