Artist as Mediator: The History of the US Department of Art & Technology (2000-2005)

I moved to Washington, DC, at the turn of the millennium. Shortly after September 11th, I found myself with a job to do, an artist in the center of power during times of crisis. I held a desire to engage, not as a passive observer, but with an active role–the artist’s role, one who sees, listens, analyzes, translates and illuminates the dangerous mechanisms of the unfolding political situation in America. This resulted in the founding of the US Department of Art & Technology. The following narrative account is a portrait of the artist as mediator “between a strange, hostile world and the human spirit.”