at the tower, Petlin received telegrams of support from Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and others intellectuals. Despite frequent acts of vandalism at the site, and violent physical attacks on the artists working there, the Peace Tower was dedicated at a ceremony on February 26, 1966 with remarks by Susan Sontag. The Peace Tower remained for three months, functioning as a galvanizing symbol of dissent. Petlin relates that at one point he had to defend himself with a broken lightbulb and that when Frank Stella heard about this he sent a check for $1000, writing, "Anybody who puts their life on the line defending a work of art of mine, I'm going to send a thousand bucks too." In the end, no painting was damaged. References External links Online Peace Tower Peace Tower page on Whitney Biennial site Kent Fine Art: Irving Petlin Artist Page Installation art works