Les miradors de la paix

THE WATCHTOWERS OF PEACE 

MONTAGNES DE SLOVÉNIE
GALERIE INTERNATIONALE PLURIDISCIPLINAIRE, GRAZ, AUTRICHE
GALERIE LE MONDE DE L'ART, PARIS
MAI/JUILLET 1993

Concept

"From all over the world, over the borders, send your messages of peace to the territories of the former Yugoslavia by telephone. Your calls will be amplified in real time by powerful loudspeakers installed in the Austrian mountains at Rebenhof, then relayed by radio stations".
The fourth "Mirador de la Paix" is in Paris, on the premises of the "Le Monde de l'art" gallery.
From this venue, a live concert for peace will take place on 27 May between 8 and 10 pm. The following day, a large number of artists and personalities, in the presence of Danielle Mitterand, will transmit their messages from a battery of telephone lines: permanent lines will also allow calls from Belgrade, Zagreb and Sarajevo to be received (calls which will constitute a sound database redistributed daily to radio stations for broadcasting).
Unfortunately, artists are not in a position to bring about concrete changes in crisis situations that depend on political, economic or military power. Nevertheless, their symbolic interventions remain fundamentally necessary. Although they are clear about the impact of their interventions, they know that they can play a role in raising awareness. They know that the phenomena of media coverage and their generalisation in modern societies can be decisive assets, acting as amplifying relays, enabling them to escape cultural compartmentalisation and act on the world through the power of information and communication.
Installing sound sculptures in the landscape of Austria, on the border with the former Yugoslavia, is part of this approach. By placing these 'communicational' sentinels of peace side by side and directing their sound equipment towards spaces seized by human 'madness', we are setting up an original device designed to sweep these regions with waves of 'positive' energy, 'pacifying' waves generated by the collective and planetary consciousness of which each person becomes the transmitter by picking up his or her telephone. If man's folly led to electronic war, let's hope that, on the threshold of the third millennium, his wisdom will also be able to use the most modern channels to dispense 'particles' of love and peace.

Device

• International telephone network
• Three 20 m high metal structures set in the landscape on the Slovenian border, topped with loudspeakers.
• A computer in charge of managing the sound to produce an electronic signal consisting of an updated synthesis of all incoming calls. This signal is transmitted between individual calls in real time.
• An international press campaign (mailing of 10,000 items) designed to publicise the three telephone numbers (publicising the numbers by publishing them in Le Figaro, La Stampa, the Yomiuri press group, Shimbun, Paris Match, Agence France Presse, Agence Tass, etc.).
• Five radio stations covering many countries, including the territories of former Yugoslavia, launching numerous appeals to participate and rebroadcasting the messages of peace already launched: RFI, Droit de Parole, RadioB92 (Belgrade), Austrian Radio (Vienna), Radio Nova (Paris)...
• Fifteen radio stations devoted a special programme to the operation, including Bulgarian National Radio (Sofia), Canadian National Radio, NRJ, Europe 2, France Inter, France Culture (Paris), RTBF (Belgium), Radio Suisse Romande...
• Three national television channels: France 2, ZDF (Germany), ORF (Austria).

• Catalogue " Teleskulptur - Les Miradors de la Paix ", Kulturdata Graz 1993

Presse écrite :

• Paris Match n°2300, 24 juin 1993
• Citizen n°1, mai 1993
• Le Midi Libre, 15 mai 1993
• Le Figaro, 24 avril 1993
• NZ Graz, 30 mai 1993
• Le Courrier Picard, 28 juin 1993
• Kleine Zeitung, 27 et 30 mai 1993
• Télérama, 26 mai 1993
• La Dépêche du Midi, 17 juin 1993
• 24 heures (Lausanne), juin 1993
• Le Jour (Paris), 2 juin 1993
• Elle (Paris), 31 mai 1993
• Révolution (Paris), 20 mai 1993
• Agence Tass, juin 1993
• Agence France Presse, juin 1993
• DAP, juin 1993
• Le Nouveau Quotidien, 2 juin 1993

Radios :

• Radio France Internationale, 31 mai 1993 et 14 août 1993 (Show Schick)
• Droit de Parole
• Radio Nova
• NJR
• France Inter (L'heure du Pop), 26 mai 1993 et 30 juin 1993 (Chronique de Violaine
  de Labigne)
• Radio Nationale bulgare (Ailleurs), 13 juillet 1993
• Radio Nationale canadienne (VSD), juillet 1993
• Radio Suisse Romande (La Première), juin 1993
• BFM, 23 avril 1993

Télévisions :

• France 2 (Journal de 23 heures, dimanche 30 mai 1993, Renaud Fessaguet)
  ORF (Autriche)