Ayer Collection 0005

Ministry of Culture, April 1984

Department roster, Ministry of Culture

D A Ayer

Handwritten notes

8 1/2 x 11 inches

April 1984

1984—2012 D A Ayer

Collection of David and Rebecca Ayer

Like the traditional Electric Pumpkin Patch, Selling Out was a distributed performance occupying as much of the NIU music building as the Ensemble could get access to and manage to "staff." One side-effect of the approach is that no one saw the entire performance, with the performers at least as in the dark as the audience. The Ministry of Culture was staffed by someone else, and in the end I'm pretty sure it had little to do with this early brainstorm based on Orwell's book.

Got memories? Please help flesh this out!

And I release my copyright to this text! Here it is, ready for copying (Read about at Creative Commons):

Ministry of Culture

1. National Historical (Hysterical) Society
   • Bureau of Plaques, Markers, Roadside Diversions, and Public Statuary
   • Department of Industrial Remembrances
   • Bureau of Museums, Libraries, and Public Lavatories
   • Bureau of National Borders and Military Reversals
2. Ethno-Bohemian Historical Office
   • Department of Apocryphal Deeds and Attributions
   • Department of Historical Omission and Educational Textbooks
3. Non-Historical Heritage Society
   • Department of Current Goings-On
   • Bureau of Immediate Repercussions
   • Department of Momentary Diversions
   • Ad Hoc Committee on the Here-and-Now
4. National Council on the Arts
   • Committee to Emulate Established and Deceased Artists
   • Committee to Ignore New Music
   • Committee to Perpetuate Dead Theatrical Forms
   • Bureau of Public Television Documentaries
5. National Office for Religious Sanction and Acrimonious Debate
   • Department of Pomp and Processionals
   • National Office of Political Humor
6. Council on Traditional Consciousness-Altering and Cultural Indulgences