Home › Blogs › fls's blog

Art is not bioterrorism

Wed, 02/02/2005 - 00:16 — fls

DE BALIE in amsterdam announced a benefit concert on February 9th, 2005. Rebecca Schneider and Ann Pellegrini were referring in their lecture at the summer academy to the case of artist Steven Kurtz and scientist Robert Ferrell, both threatened by an unjustifiable prosecution for "bioterrorism". Those who were not able to tune into the live stream may download the torrent file and follow the instructions to download and watch it

A N N O U N C E M E N T

De Balie - Centre for Culture and Politics, Amsterdam
http://www.debalie.nl/media

Wednesday February 9 , 2005 / 20.00 - 22.00 hrs

ART IS NOT 'BIOTERRORISM'

STOP THE WAR ON FREE KNOWELDGE

A live benefit concert and performance event with Snowcrash (.nl), The
Yesmen and Critical Art Ensemble in support of artist Steven Kurtz and
scientist Robert Ferrell, both threatened by an unjustifiable
prosecution for "bioterrorism".

Presented in collaboration with:
Transmediale Festival, Berlin (http://www.transmediale.de)
& The Arts Catalyst, London. (http://www.artscatalyst.org)

Live On-line at:
http://www.debalie.nl/live
http://www.snowcrash.nl
http://live.nu

Info:
In a sinister neo-McCarthyite turn of the cards the prosecution of the
renowned artist Steve Kurtz, a core member of the US-based art
collective Critical Art Ensemble and Professor of Art at the University
of Buffalo, still continues after more than 8 months.

On May 11th 2004 Steven Kurtz awoke to find his wife of 27 years dead.
After emergency workers arrived, they called in the FBI after finding
what they considered to be suspicious items. These items were
scientific samples and equipment, including harmless bacteria. Invoking
a 1989 bioterrorism law and the Patriot Act, federal agents detained
Kurtz for 22 hours and searched his home and office for two days. The
FBI confiscated his wife's body, his house, car, equipment, computer,
books, writings, correspondence, art projects and other items, even his
cat. His house, cat and car were returned after one week, once it was
determined that the death of his wife was unrelated to the bacterial matter.

Kurtz was then arraigned and charged in a Federal District Court, not
for bioterrorsim but of four counts of 'mail and wire fraud', carrying a
sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Dr. Robert Ferrell, Professor of
Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh is also indicted on the same
charges.

Harmless laboratory equipment and materials were at first mistakenly
considered a public health threat. No such threat ever existed. The
continuation of legal proceedings against Steven Kurtz and Robert
Ferrell, now suggest a political motivation to the case.

These charges are an attempt to stop CAE's open and public research into
the new regimes of biotechnology. This research shown at major museums
across the USA and Europe includes work on:
- Genetically modified organisms and food (GMOs)
- the emerging complex of 'Intellectual Property Rights' related to
the patenting of DNA sequences, the very building blocks of life
- the science that lies behind the myth and politics of bioweapons

The prosecution of Kurtz and Ferrell, and other scientists creating the
crucial public debate on the implications and risks in the fields of
biotechnology and life sciences, threaten healthy public discussion of
these important scientific and technological developments. Such forms of
legal intimidation have unfortunately increased in recent years. They
constitute a fundamental threat to the freedom of artistic and academic
research and the wider democratisation of vital areas of scientific
knowledge.

With this event we call for an immediate cessation of all legal
proceedings against Steve Kurtz, Robert Ferrell and the Critical Art
Ensemble, and a resumption of a broad debate on the recent advances in
the fields of biotechnology and life-sciences in the USA and
internationally.

In the presence of Steve Kurtz and Critical Art Ensemble collaborator
Claire Pentecost, De Balie will stage an extensive benefit concert and
performance event on Wednesday February 9th in collaboration with
SNOWCRASH - "The Biggest Live Internet Dance Act on Earth".

With live connections to:

The Yesmen
http://www.theyesmen.org

Streamminister Berlin
http://www.streamminister.de

Absurde Video Team Strasburg
http://www.absurde.com

Radio Jeleni Prague
http://www.radiojeleni.cz

Performing artists:
Illegal Sound (General D & Longman)
Jitka Charvatova (Skyline)

and our main guests of the evening: Steve Kurtz and Claire Pentecost.

Admission: 5 euro:
The revenues of the evening will be made entirely available to the
Critical Art Ensemble Defence Fund to support the legal struggle.
http://www.caedefensefund.org

De Balie
Kleine Gartmanpantsoen 10
Amsterdam
http://www.debalie.nl

Tickets: +31.20.553 51 00

This event will be streamed live via the internet at:
http://www.debalie.nl/live
http://www.snowcrash.nl
http://www.live.nu

Comments

Wed, 04/13/2005 - 08:52 — fls

Art auction will support artist Steven Kurtz

An April 17 benefit auction at Paula Cooper Gallery in NYC has attracted donations from some of the biggest names in the contemporary art world, including Hans Haacke, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Martha Rosler, Sol LeWitt, RubŽn Ortiz Torres, Kiki Smith, Lorna Simpson, Chris Burden, and many others. (See details at bottom or at http://www.caedefensefund.org/auction/PaulaCooperGallery.html.)

Organizers of this Sunday's auction expect to raise at least a six-figure sum to help artist Steven Kurtz and scientist Robert Ferrell defend themselves against politically-motivated federal charges of mail and wire fraud--and, it now seems likely, bioterrorism charges as well.

If convicted of the wire and mail fraud charges, Kurtz, a founding member of the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) and Professor of Art at the University of Buffalo, and Ferrell, a Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh, could face up to 20 years in prison.

But worse is possible. On March 17, Steven Barnes, also a founding member of the Critical Art Ensemble, was served a subpoena to appear before a Federal Grand Jury in Buffalo on April 19. According to the subpoena, the FBI is once again seeking charges under Section 175 of the US Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, as expanded by the USA PATRIOT Act--charges which a previous Grand Jury appeared to reject when they handed down indictments of mail and wire fraud last summer. (See http://www.caedefensefund.org for full details.)

The addition of bioterrorism charges will add to the heavy financial and emotional burden of the defendants. But the rising cost to taxpayers is significant too. Although the New York State Department of Health quickly deemed that the materials used by Kurtz in his art posed no threat to public health or safety, and the FBI's own field and laboratory tests showed that they were not used for any illegal purpose, the U.S. District Attorney continues to waste vast sums of public money prosecuting this outlandish, politically motivated case.

Since June 2004, public events in support of the CAE Defense Fund in the US, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Latin America and Australia, as well as thousands of individual contributions, have met the rising defense costs. But as the case moves to trial, Kurtz and Ferrell's expenses will increase dramatically, and more fundraisers and donations will be needed. The April 17 auction organizers hope the auction will serve as a spur for people worldwide to organize new benefit events and contribute to the fund. Please visit http://caedefensefund.org for more information about how you can help publicize this auction, organize your own event, donate funds, or otherwise help support Kurtz and Ferrell in this exceedingly important case that could widely impact freedom of expression and more in the US.

AUCTION DETAILS:

When: Sunday, April 17, 2005 (viewing and silent auction 2-8pm, live auction 5-7pm)

Where: Paula Cooper Gallery, 521 West 21st Street, NYC 10011, tel: 212-255-1105 / day of auction: 212-255-5247

Master of Ceremonies: Wallace Shawn

Artists who have donated work: Acconci Studio, Dennis Adams, Carl Andre, The Atlas Group, Nayland Blake, Mel Bochner, Cecily Brown, Chris Burden, Paul Chan, Jeremy Deller, Mark Dion, Sam Durant, Tony Feher, Andrea Fraser, Joseph Grigely, Hans Haacke, Ann Hamilton, Rachel Harrison, Emily Jacir, Mike Kelley, Barbara Kruger, William Pope L., Louise Lawler, Zoe Leonard, Sol LeWitt, Glenn Ligon, Sharon Lockhart, Brice Marden, Allan McCollum, Julie Mehretu, Arnold Mesches, Donald Moffett, Dave Muller, Vik Muniz, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Cathy Opie, RubŽn Ortiz Torres, Laura Owens, David Reed, Alexis Rockman, Martha Rosler, Christy Rupp, Carolee Schneemann, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Amy Sillman, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, Janaina Tschape, and many more.

To view some of the donated art works, please visit: http://www.caedefensefund.org/auction/PaulaCooperGallery.html

This benefit is sponsored by the National Association of Artists' Organizations (NAAO) and Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (Buffalo), and is supported by galleries across the US.

For more information please contact Lori at Paula Cooper Gallery, or visit http://caedefensefund.org. Press inquiries may be directed to mailto:auction@caedefensefund.org.