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This continuous performance is «a response to a response». On September 14th 2001, the Government of United States declared a International Day of Mourning by asking people all around the world to keep three minutes of silence for the victims of the World Trade Center destruction.

Three minutes is one of the longest periods of silence ever done in the Western world for victims of mass murder.

I decided to “recycle” this standard “three minutes of silence” and to apply it to all state structures - countries - that are responsible for the death or mistreatment of people as a result of their foreign and domestic policies.

For each of these countries, I ask a different person to join me as a collaborator in the performance. I explain how the project began and then ask the person to choose a place he/she would like to do the performance. Every country in the world, listed in alphabetical order, is to be accorded three minutes of silence for the victims of foreign (and domestic) policy in that country.

To free myself from my personal preferences, I work according to the alphabetical list of countries as officially recognised by the United Nations. By chance, the first country that appears on this list (according to the French alphabetical language) is Afghanistan.

For each performance, I take out a book that consists only of blank pages and a chronometer. Every time I do this performance, I turn one page of the book. So the next page is conceptually associated with the country for which we are doing this three minutes of silence. You can hold the book or not; you can look at it or not, you are free to adopt any physical position that enables your mental projection of this country. We usually do every three minutes of silence motionless. The sitting position is usually more comfortable to perform it. This piece is a chance-operation piece, for each meeting we find what country is next on the list. For each action, there is a conjunction between our mental projection about the country and the environmental variations of the site where we choose to perform this three minutes of silence. It is always a unique experience. We meet and talk before and continue the conversation after the three minutes of silence. Sometimes discussions last hours, sometimes minutes.
Since September 2001, I have done 91 three-minute silences with more than 91 different people.

I ask each participant to choose a location to perform this piece within their city. The choice is totally open : the participant can choose any kind of place to do the performance. Locations chosen by previous participants included for example : 
- Three minutes of silence for Ghana in a private bathroom in front of a falling Communist Party flag, Beijing, China 
- Three minutes silence for Finland at a door to the Forbidden City where public executions where held during the reign of the Last Emperor in Beijing, China 
- Three minutes silence for Cuba, on the ferry between Staten Island and Manhattan, while passing in front of the Statue of Liberty
- Three minute silence for South Korea in the in front of Slobodan Milosevic having his trial in the International Court for War Crimes in former Yugoslavia, The Hague, Netherland
- Three minutes silence for Indonesia : On the private balcony of an apartment in Santiago, Chile 
... and many others.

Each participant is free to choose a specific location in Edmonton for us to perform together. We can meet somewhere first or directly at a chosen location by the participant. 
Steps : 
- Please contact me : In order to fix an appointment. 
- Think about a place where you would like to have the meeting and do the performance.
- We will meet, have a conversation and then perform together.

Translation from French to English : Doug McColeman & Francesca Jordon 
Particular Thanks to :
Galerie Séquence, Chicoutimi, Québec / Événement Réciprocité, Canada / Festival «Déranger l’espace», Québec / Esse/Galerie Clark, Québec / M. Bernard Garcia, collectionneur, Paris / Esther Ferrer, artiste, Paris / Événement Egeszsegedre, USA / Da Dao Festival, Beijing, R.P. de Chine / Festival Coalition, Chili / B+PAC, Indonésie / Engrenage Noir, Canada / FADO, Canada / Chaine Culturelle de Radio-Canada, Canada / Événements Wed Action et Solo Action, Indonésie / Arahmaiani, artiste, Indonésie / Conseil des Arts du Canada, Canada / Aide au déplacement du Conseil des Arts et des lettres du Québec.Québec/ Everyone who collaborated on this project.

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