THE SAD SMOKY MOUNTAINS & skyscrapers – A CIVIL ACTION AND A WORK OF ART

ignition, through the use of symbols and thoughts, of broken hearted mountains :-[ naturals and urbans ]-: as well as broken hearts of those who go across them

The final actionDuring the final part of this action of ours the Sad Smoky Mountains will be meeting the Cities. The Urban Climbers, “city mountaineers” moment has come! In togetherness with mountains, in togetherness with the hills we will be kindling the hearts of our cities and their inhabitants employing the same red color used afore by returning to the origin of those columns of smoke chosen to be used as a symbol, an invariable symbol of this work of art. Those columns are in fact a chromatic manipulation of the smoke erupted from the Twin Towers on September 11th, 2001, and their color manifests shame-sadness-outrage felt towards the violation of human rights. Today in Tibet, Sudan, Burma (Myanmar), Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine; yesterday in Africa, Europe and the USA; tomorrow who knows where in the East or in the West, in the South or in the North of this world.The Sad Smoky Mountains will smoke together, in togetherness with City skyscrapers so as to re-establish a necessary alliance between man and environment, between man and the other self, between man and those similar to him. Monuments like volcanoes previously at rest, awakened by the Earths’ pain. These monuments will return to what they originally were meant to represent: a monition (from Latin monumentum), a warning to those who have forgotten what hides behind ancient architectures. We shall make these monuments talk the language of smoke, “the evanescent color of blood”, on the day on which the olympic torch, a double-headed symbol of peace and hypocrisy, will light the Peking Olympics. At exactly sixty years from the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the repression of Tibet during an event of world-wide interest has become the symbol of failure and betrayal on behalf of international governments: the principles then ratified have been and are still, more or less diplomatically, denied.My friends and I in unison with other French activists, will move near, on sight, on top of, beneath, besides… the Eiffel Tower, in the heart of the city where UNESCO has it’s general headquarters, in a city that more than any other one has consigned culture and intelligence to the fundamental freedoms of man. Other cities throughout the world, mountains, hills, scenic areas, natural or urban sites are there, available, in their unchangeable locations, waiting. For You.Just like climbing mountains and hills, it doesn’t take much: a red smoke signal, good will and – should, by chance, elevators be missing or should there be no creative alternative whatsoever to climbing buildings from outside – a few floors of typical, simple stairs can be used to reach the uppermost terraces of skyscrapers and homes.“Will this civil action and work of art make our governments move?” – someone recently questioned. I don’t know and it is not a problem. The only strong and real certainty I have, especially after the extraordinary first round of ignitions , is that our action will be useful, and how very useful it will be, “to nurture those who resist”, to make them feel less lonesome, surrounded by a net of humanity. This is not petty work. If we move, something else will move along with us. Consequences are not foreseeable but they do always remain consequences.To give start to the second phase of this work of art I have decided to “ignite” a bell tower within the next few days. The bell tower, a monument which itself has voice; the capacity of speaking – the bells – which often remain silent due to manipulation by power. I will start in my home town with this Sad Smoky Bell Tower action. From the heart of a small village in one of many Italian provinces a first alarm bell ringing so as to, once and for all, put into words what memory withholds.Take a smoke signal and color the sky red!I will be with you.Alberto Peruffo [ Italy ]For more information visit: http://www.antersass.it/sadsmokymountains/default_english_final.htmInformation and press office at the following address: info@antersass.it