US Department of Art & Technology
Office of the Press Secretary: press@usdat.us
For Immediate Release: February 16, 2006
ORF'S IMMOLATION
A RITUAL ACT OF PROTEST AND PURIFICATION
Mardi Gras, New Orleans - February 28, 2006
WASHINGTON, DC - Secretary-at-Large Randall M. Packer announces ORF'S IMMOLATION, a ritual act of protest and purification, presented by the US Department of Art & Technology (US DAT) as the closing event of Mardi Gras, New Orleans, February 28, 2006, 11:00 pm - 12:00 am CST. ORF'S IMMOLATION will be performed by Los Angeles tenor Charles Lane.
US DAT is leading an ambitious artistic response mobilization at Mardi Gras to confront deteriorating social and political conditions in America that have led to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. US DAT will stage Orf's Immolation at Jackson Square in the French Quarter culminating a one-hour multimedia walkthrough from Washington Park in the Marigny Triangle. Images of the hurricane and its aftermath will be projected on the caped figure of Orf while he sings classic American songs of defiance, catharsis, and rebirth. The US Department of Art & Technology is vigilant in its efforts to recover and reclaim what is sacred and what is at risk, what is fragile in the unique culture of New Orleans.
ORF'S IMMOLATION is part of the ongoing project A Season in Hell (for perilous times in post-apocalyptic America), launched on January 20, 2005 upon the Death of the Nation. At that time, Secretary-at-Large Packer declared the entire nation a disaster area. Since then, the full arsenal of artistic and technological resources and capabilities of US DAT have been directed to assist and protect those citizens who have born the brunt of this national catastrophe. The Department is working closely with state and local artists to assess damage, identify critical needs, and bring about forms of artistic mediation that ensure new models and new possibilities for social and political transformation.
We know people are suffering, and we are trying to overcome the enormous collapse of humanity posed by the actions of the United States Government.
ORF'S IMMOLATION Operations Team: Steven Allen (costume design), John Anderson (video), Teague Clare (photography), Phyllis Hecht (Eurydice), Charles Lane (Orf/tenor), Carolyn Mallory (photography), Fernando Mares (costume design), Randall Packer (concept, direction, music) Yauger Williams (photography)
The US Department of Art & Technology
http://www.usdat.us
The US Department of Art and Technology is the United States principal conduit for facilitating the artist's need to extend aesthetic inquiry into the broader culture where ideas become real action. It also serves the psychological and spiritual well-being of all Americans by supporting cultural efforts that provide immunity from the extension of new media technologies into the social sphere.
Contact:
US Department of Art & Technology | Washington, DC | E-mail: press@usdat.us
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