THE
ACTIONS OF FRED FOREST
48
MEDIA PERFORMANCE / INSTALLATION / EVENT
THE
WATCHTOWERS OF PEACE
MOUNTAINS
ALONG THE AUSTRO-SLOVENIAN BORDER
INTERNATIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY GALLERY, GRAZ, AUSTRIA
GALERIE LE MONDE DE L’ART, PARIS
MAY - JULY 1993
Disappointed
with the mainstream media coverage of the warfare and “ethnic
cleansing” in the former Yugoslavia and the apathy of the
international community that watches the tragedy unfold on television
without doing anything to stop it, the artist decides to set up
an alternative communication network—a combination of sophisticated
technology and more primitive means—centering on three watchtowers,
or “sound sculptures,” erected in the mountains along
the Austrian border with Slovenia, with a fourth located in a Parisian
art gallery. By dialing special phone numbers publicized in several
different countries, people could record their own personal peace
messages for the former Yugoslavia. The messages were transferred
to the watchtowers, from which they were broadcast into the war-torn
region via loudspeaker. Several radio stations in different cities
including Belgrade, Zagreb, and Sarajevo, played selections of messages
over the air.
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