AMPLIFIED ART by Paolo Barrile The new artist is born. It is the artist who expresses himself through the actions, behaviours, participation and works of other artists. The "new" artist conceives a project, he announces it, he "proposes" it explaining to other artists its meaning and aims. If they are tuned in to the new artist's thought and objectives, the other artists act. The "new" work of art -- which will be exhibited, criticized and commercialized -- is the whole project, consisting of dozens or hundreds of works and/or actions of dozens or hundreds of artists. Amplified art is -- or can be -- "global art" because artists from the remotest Countries can participate in any project. This is made possible by mail art. Apart from the technical ability and adequate competence of participants, a successful project requires the artists to be deeply involved from the point of view of ideology and of the new artist's pivotal idea. The idea must be valid, it must be able to kindle enthusiasm and to motivate artists to participate. In the past, the artist expressed himself by means of colours, clay, marble. Today, the "new" artist's media are the other artists. In conclusion, *amplified art* enables "new" artist to abandon his traditional working tools and adopt other means of expression. The "new" artist conceives a project and, in order to carry it out, he stimulates and involves hundreds of other artists. Amplified art is very often *global art*. __________ As far as my own work is concerned, I should mention the project/research "The picture concept?" of 1975, which was exhibited at the Triade in Turin in 1976, as well as the initial Message Earth actions, when, using the most diverse means, I asked people to bring me 1 kg of earth from a Country in the World. Apart from these activities, I have carries out the following amplified art actions: 1977 - First "Earth transport" operation. I sent 50 g. of virgin earth collected by 19 artists in 19 different places to 19 other artists in 15 Italian towns. I asked them to scatter it on the asphyctic earth of a garden or a flower-bed in their own town. The action was only partially successful because only one artist did what I had suggested. The others preferred to keep the wax-sealed bag containing a nice red or yellow earth and the envelope with the postal cancellation as a fetish. 1979 - "For a greener and more human future." I sent 200 oak and horse-chestnut acorns (plus the relative instructions) to 37 children and young married couples and to five school-classes, asking them to plant them out in an uncultivated land. This action led to the celebration of a "green week" at the Scuola Media Artiaco in Pozzuoli. The headmaster and the professors talked about the usefulness and importance of trees in front of all classes gathered together. The acorns were then planted out in an open space. 1982 - Second "Earth transport" operation. I sent paleosols from Altavilla Vincentina to 152 artists in 36 different Countries, asking them to scatter them on polluted ground or water. Having learned from the previous experience, this time I sent "two" bags full of earth. 21 artists in Italy, France, East Germany, West Germany, the USA, the USSR, Rumania, Holland and Czechoslovakia followed my advice. 1990 - "Message Earth 90." 92 artists collected earth in 56 Countries all over the world and applied it on a card. 1991 - "Message Earth 92". "The Plastic Age." A proposal by 77 artists from 26 different Countries for the Archaeology of the Future. Exhibitions on this project and the one above are presently taking place. 1992 - "Message Earth 93." "Club of those who defecate in the open." (In order to restore the biological cycle.) Artists are requested to indicate the precise spot where they have defecated in the open on an enclosed world map. When all maps are superimposed, I hope to cover the whole planet (with dots). This action is in progress. The deadline is 31st August 1993. These three actions will be dealt with in the book "EARTH AGE, PLASTIC AGE, ... AGE" which will be published in 1994. 1992 - "Piero Manzoni's infinite line" (with Ruggero Maggi). Artists from all over the world are sending their lines which will then be assembled on the wall one after the other at the Milan Art Center in Milan and then exhibited on 6th February 1993. After this, fragments of these lines will be sent back to the artists along with the stickers representing the logo to be stuck on every means of transport. In this way, the (finite) line assembled by the artists will become infinite in space and time, as Piero Manzoni had imagined. Milan, March 1992