"Planet of Love" invites your participation in a simple event
celebrating forgiveness, reciprocity, collaboration, atonement
(at-one-ment), and "con spiré," a breathing together. If you have a
moment, 15 minutes or three hours during the following times, we'd
love your love-hub:
Milledgeville, Georgia, USA: Between 12:00 AM-11:59 PM EST, February 10, 2010
Dublin, Ireland: Between 5:00 AM, February 10 and 4:59 AM GMT/UTC,
February 11, 2010
Baghdad, Iraq: Between 8:00 AM, February 10 and 7:59 AM, February 11, 2010
Beijing, China: Between 1:00 PM, February 10 and 12:59 PM, February 11, 2010
Los Angeles, California, USA: Between 9:00 PM, February 9 and 8:59 PM
PST, February 10, 2010
Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico: Between 10:00 PM, February 9 and
9:59 PM MST, February 10, 2010
Statement:
The following will occur at Georgia College & State University between
2:00 PM and 5:00 PM EST on February 10, 2010, in conjunction with the
third annual Symposium on Global Citizenship. We hope you will join
us at some point within the 24 hours of that location's day. The
divide between oppressor/oppressed, abuser/abused, powerful/powerless,
predator/prey, and directed/collateral will be symbolically
transgressed through the act of a physical embrace. While we will
perform in the southern USA within the following parameters, please
feel free to participate in a similar public performance, or engage
someone in a private momentary embrace, or in any version of the
project that works for you. You will be sharing this act of communion
with people whose customs are unfamiliar, people who worship gods
other than yours, who dress, speak and appear in a way you may have no
experience with. In this way the differences that make it so easy to
fear and hate and ignore the humanity of now become irrelevant and
subverted through a shared act and a peaceful touch. Our goal is to
know that somewhere on this planet within these 24 hours, for at least
an instant, two people are not waging war.
Planet of Love--
A proposition: a group of four couples (or triples, quads) standing on
the four points of an intersection (avenue, street, waterway, gallery
rooms, rooftop, office cubicles, etc), locked in an embrace for an
extended period.
The "lovers" may be strangers to one another, or have a previous
relationship of some kind (spouses, lovers, siblings, friends,
enemies, colleagues, co-workers, parents with children, etc).
The Georgia embrace will last as long as possible, with intermittent
resting when needed, for three hours or more before completely
ceasing.
Participants will work in groups of four (couples or more) at the four
corners of a traveled and/or visible intersection, positioned at least
6 inches above ground level by standing on a platform, box, or some
other mode of elevation. Clothing/appearance among various groups may
vary within the group but can be considered as an element of the
performance. Georgia participants will be dressed in a uniform
fashion specific to their location and culture(s), in colors or
costume appropriate to the performance as decided upon by the group.
Data on violence, aggression and peace culled from the following
sources will be read aloud throughout the performance:
Necessary permits or approvals by authorized agencies are recommended
to avoid interruption of the performances. Water and refreshments are
recommended as needed.
Documentation of your action is requested for public posting. Please
send photographs, video, drawings, etc. electronically to
william.fisher@gcsu.edu or by post to Planet of Love, Dept. of Art,
CBX 094, GCSU, Milledgeville, GA, USA 31061.
All imagery will be posted to this site.
Currently preparing for the event are USA east and west coast Gangs of
Four, groups in Australia, Indonesia, the Czech Republic, South
Africa, Tokyo and Mexico. We hope you'll join us during these 24
hours, or whenever you have the opportunity to disengage from war.
For more information and/or to express your interest in participating,
please write to william.fisher@gcsu.edu
