more on steve kurtz

What do you think we can do to support Steve? Has anyone seen an FBI
address where we can send letters of support or some such? A judge? I
will see what I can find out from the folks at rtmark. - Rachel


On Jun 2, 2004, at 9:56 AM, Joy Garnett wrote:

>
>
> found this morning via reBlog
> http://www.eyebeam.org/reblog/
>
> orig. from: http://joi.ito.com/
>
>>
> June 02, 2004
> Email from artist suspected by FBI of bioterrorism
> 08:25 JST Art - Health and Medicine - US Policy and Politics
>
> In the comments on an earlier post on this blog about an artist
> suspected by the FBI of bioterrorism, there was a great deal of
> speculation about the incident and the facts. (Read the link above to
> my previous post for the background.) I emailed the artist, Steven
> Kurtz, asking him for the facts, and here is his reply.
>
> Posted with permission.
>
> Steve Kurtz
> Hi Joi,
>
> Its a long and complex story.
>
> To shorten it:
>
> I was detained for 22 hours by the FBI
> They seized my wife's body, house, cat and car.
> These items were released a week later
> In the house they seized computers, science equipment, chunks of
> my library, teaching files,
> I-D, and all my research for a new book.
> The only thing I have gotten back is my wife's birth certificate
> On Sunday, two members of CAE got summons to appear before a Grand
> Jury. (This is bad. It
> means I will be charged. Grand Jury is a closed court–only the
> FBI gets to present its case).
> The Grand Jury will meet on June 15
> In all proabability, I will be arrested shortly thereafter.
>
> Best,
> Steve/CAE
>
> more:
> http://joi.ito.com/archives/2004/06/02/
> email_from_artist_suspected_by_fbi_of_bioterrorism.html
> +
> -> post: [email protected]
> -> questions: [email protected]
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> -> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is open to non-members
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>

I'm not sure Eric has agreed yet, but it was suggested on the
new-media-curating list that he draft a letter of support for Steve that we
could all sign — I'm posting the thread below:

———————————

I'm forwarding this from a note I got from Ray Thomas of RTMark.

Ray Writes:
This is a great idea–definitely should happen. Ray Thomas could start the
letter but thinks it would be better for all kinds of reasons if Eric
Kluitenberg did. Eric?

ray

Patrick Lichty
Editor-In-Chief
Intelligent Agent Magazine
http://www.intelligentagent.com
355 Seyburn Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA 70808

"It is better to die on your feet
than to live on your knees."


—–Original Message—–
From: Curating digital art - www.newmedia.sunderland.ac.uk/crumb/
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of patrick lichty
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 10:36 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: International Support Letter for Steven Kurtz / CAE

In the case of Steve Dietz' termination from the Walker, Sarah Cook drafted
a letter that Christiane Paul, Tim Whidden, myself and others collaborated
on and then used that as the rallying message to the director of the Walker.

I think that someone needs to write this letter, have it circulated for
refinements, then send it out to the masses.

There are many fine people on this list who could pen the draft; I also
believe that a prime candidate for doing the draft would be Ray Thomas.

I was with Steve just a few weeks ago at the Free Cooperation summit, and in
all the years I have known him in one way or another, I'd like to say that
he is one of the kinder, conscientious people in this world.

I have no words to describe the situation as it stands.
I'll let it stand at that.

Patrick Lichty
Editor-In-Chief
Intelligent Agent Magazine
http://www.intelligentagent.com
355 Seyburn Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA 70808

"It is better to die on your feet
than to live on your knees."

—–Original Message—–
From: Curating digital art - www.newmedia.sunderland.ac.uk/crumb/
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Kanarinka
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 9:43 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: International Support Letter for Steven Kurtz / CAE

Hello all,

I haven't seen any such letter but I think it's a great idea and I already
want to sign it. I vote for a draft letter by small committee so that it
will happen quickly to get it out ASAP to as many people as possible for
signing. I was at the Interventionists exhibit this weekend where CAE had a
description of the events that took place. Most patrons were appalled. Some
believed that it was simply not true. It's very important that this event be
circulated amongst a wider audience.


kanarinka
co-director, www.ikatun.com



—–Original Message—–
From: Curating digital art - www.newmedia.sunderland.ac.uk/crumb/
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Eric Kluitenberg
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 5:32 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: International Support Letter for Steven Kurtz / CAE
Importance: High


Dear friends,

Is anybody already working on a support letter for Steven Kurtz?

Maybe we orverlooked the most obvious way to help at this point, which is to
provide an international letter, signed by a list of internationally
acclaimed curators, writers, critics, artists, and anybody else out there
who has a direct and professional relationship to the work of Steven Kurtz
and the Critical Art Ensemble.

More information on the support campaign can at this point be found at the
following web page: http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/

How do we write the letter - do we circulate a draft letter publically, or
in small committee?

Best wishes,

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


——————


May 25, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FBI ABDUCTS ARTIST, SEIZES ART
Feds Unable to Distinguish Art from Bioterrorism
Grieving Artist Denied Access to Deceased Wife's Body

DEFENSE FUND ESTABLISHED - HELP URGENTLY NEEDED

Steve Kurtz was already suffering from one tragedy when he called 911 early
in the morning to tell them his wife had suffered a cardiac arrest and died
in her sleep. The police arrived and, cranked up on the rhetoric of the
"War on Terror," decided Kurtz's art supplies were actually bioterrorism
weapons.

Thus began an Orwellian stream of events in which FBI agents abducted Kurtz
without charges, sealed off his entire block, and confiscated his computers,
manuscripts, art supplies… and even his wife's body.

Like the case of Brandon Mayfield, the Muslim lawyer from Portland
imprisoned for two weeks on the flimsiest of false evidence, Kurtz's case
amply demonstrates the dangers posed by the USA PATRIOT Act coupled with
government-nurtured terrorism hysteria.

Kurtz's case is ongoing, and, on top of everything else, Kurtz is facing a
mountain of legal fees. Donations to his legal defense can be made at
http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/

FEAR RUN AMOK

Steve Kurtz is Associate Professor in the Department of Art at the State
University of New York's University at Buffalo, and a member of the
internationally-acclaimed Critical Art Ensemble.

Kurtz's wife, Hope Kurtz, died in her sleep of cardiac arrest in the early
morning hours of May 11. Police arrived, became suspicious of Kurtz's art
supplies and called the FBI.

Within hours, FBI agents had "detained" Kurtz as a suspected bioterrorist
and cordoned off the entire block around his house. (Kurtz walked away the
next day on the advice of a lawyer, his "detention" having proved to be
illegal.) Over the next few days, dozens of agents in hazmat suits, from a
number of law enforcement agencies, sifted through Kurtz's work, analyzing
it on-site and impounding computers, manuscripts, books, equipment, and even
his wife's body for further analysis. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Health
Department condemned his house as a health risk.

Kurtz, a member of the Critical Art Ensemble, makes art which addresses the
politics of biotechnology. "Free Range Grains," CAE's latest project,
included a mobile DNA extraction laboratory for testing food products for
possible transgenic contamination. It was this equipment which triggered the
Kafkaesque chain of events.

FBI field and laboratory tests have shown that Kurtz's equipment was not
used for any illegal purpose. In fact, it is not even _possible_ to use this
equipment for the production or weaponization of dangerous germs.
Furthermore, any person in the US may legally obtain and possess such
equipment.

"Today, there is no legal way to stop huge corporations from putting
genetically altered material in our food," said Defense Fund spokeswoman
Carla Mendes. "Yet owning the equipment required to test for the presence of
'Frankenfood' will get you accused of 'terrorism.' You can be illegally
detained by shadowy government agents, lose access to your home, work, and
belongings, and find that your recently deceased spouse's body has been
taken away for 'analysis.'"

Though Kurtz has finally been able to return to his home and recover his
wife's body, the FBI has still not returned any of his equipment, computers
or manuscripts, nor given any indication of when they will. The case remains
open.

HELP URGENTLY NEEDED

A small fortune has already been spent on lawyers for Kurtz and other
Critical Art Ensemble members. A defense fund has been established at
http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/ to help defray the legal costs which will
continue to mount so long as the investigation continues. Donations go
directly to the legal defense of Kurtz and other Critical Art Ensemble
members. Should the funds raised exceed the cost of the legal defense, any
remaining money will be used to help other artists in need.

To make a donation, please visit http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/

For more information on the Critical Art Ensemble, please visit
http://www.critical-art.net/

Articles about the case: http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/news-WKBW-2.html
http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/news-WKBW.html

On advice of counsel, Steve Kurtz is unable to answer questions regarding
his case. Please direct questions or comments to Carla Mendes
<[email protected]>.

—–Original Message—–
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Rachel Greene
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 12:00 PM
To: Joy Garnett
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: RHIZOME_RAW: more on steve kurtz

What do you think we can do to support Steve? Has anyone seen an FBI
address where we can send letters of support or some such? A judge? I
will see what I can find out from the folks at rtmark. - Rachel


On Jun 2, 2004, at 9:56 AM, Joy Garnett wrote:

>
>
> found this morning via reBlog
> http://www.eyebeam.org/reblog/
>
> orig. from: http://joi.ito.com/
>
>>
> June 02, 2004
> Email from artist suspected by FBI of bioterrorism
> 08:25 JST Art - Health and Medicine - US Policy and Politics
>
> In the comments on an earlier post on this blog about an artist
> suspected by the FBI of bioterrorism, there was a great deal of
> speculation about the incident and the facts. (Read the link above to
> my previous post for the background.) I emailed the artist, Steven
> Kurtz, asking him for the facts, and here is his reply.
>
> Posted with permission.
>
> Steve Kurtz
> Hi Joi,
>
> Its a long and complex story.
>
> To shorten it:
>
> I was detained for 22 hours by the FBI
> They seized my wife's body, house, cat and car.
> These items were released a week later
> In the house they seized computers, science equipment, chunks of
> my library, teaching files,
> I-D, and all my research for a new book.
> The only thing I have gotten back is my wife's birth certificate
> On Sunday, two members of CAE got summons to appear before a Grand
> Jury. (This is bad. It
> means I will be charged. Grand Jury is a closed court–only the
> FBI gets to present its case).
> The Grand Jury will meet on June 15
> In all proabability, I will be arrested shortly thereafter.
>
> Best,
> Steve/CAE
>
> more:
> http://joi.ito.com/archives/2004/06/02/
> email_from_artist_suspected_by_fbi_of_bioterrorism.html
> +
> -> post: [email protected]
> -> questions: [email protected]
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> -> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is open to non-members
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>

+
-> post: [email protected]
-> questions: [email protected]
-> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
-> give: http://rhizome.org/support
-> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is open to non-members
+
Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
Membership Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/info/29.php

a letter of support sounds easy; in the meantime it seems like the majors
are finally picking up on this:

/////////////////////

The FBI's Art Attack
Offbeat Materials at Professor's Home Set Off Bioterror Alarm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8278-2004Jun1.html

The Washington Post, June 2, 2004
By Lynne Duke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 2, 2004; Page C01

NEW YORK – "A forensic investigation of FBI trash." On the telephone,
Beatriz da Costa says it wryly. Her humor sounds bitter. She's talking
about the detritus of a terror probe at the Buffalo home of her good
friends, the Kurtzes.

She's talking about the pizza boxes, Gatorade jugs, the gloves, the gas
mask filters, the biohazard suits: the stuff left by police, FBI, hazmat
and health investigators after they descended on the Kurtz home and
quarantined the place.

The garbage tells a story of personal tragedy, a death in the Kurtz
household, that sparked suspicions (later proved unfounded) of a biohazard
in the neighborhood. And it tells a story of the times in which we live,
with almost daily warnings about terror, and with law enforcement primed
to pounce.

Steve Kurtz, a Buffalo art professor, discovered on the morning of May 11
that his wife of 20 years, Hope Kurtz, had stopped breathing. He called
911. Police and emergency personnel responded, and what they saw in the
Kurtz home has triggered a full-blown probe – into the vials and
bacterial cultures and strange contraptions and laboratory equipment.

The FBI is investigating. A federal grand jury has been impaneled.
Witnesses have been subpoenaed, including da Costa.

Kurtz and his late wife were founders of the Critical Art Ensemble, an
internationally renowned collective of "tactical media" protest and
performance artists. Steve Kurtz, 48, has focused on the problems of the
emergence of biotechnology, such as genetically modified food. He and the
art ensemble, which also includes da Costa, have authored several books
including "Digital Resistance: Explorations in Tactical Media" and
"Electronic Civil Disobedience and Other Unpopular Ideas," both published
by Autonomedia/Semiotext(e).

The day of his wife's death, Kurtz told the authorities who he is and what
he does.

"He explained to them that he uses [the equipment] in connection with his
art, and the next thing you know they call the FBI and a full hazmat team
is deposited there from Quantico – that's what they told me," says Paul
Cambria, the lawyer who is representing Kurtz. "And they all showed up in
their suits and they're hosing each other down and closing the street off,
and all the news cameras were there and the head of the [Buffalo] FBI is
granting interviews. It was a complete circus."

Cambria, the bicoastal Buffalo and Los Angeles lawyer best known for
representing pornographer Larry Flynt, calls the Kurtz episode a "colossal
overreaction."

FBI agents put Kurtz in a hotel, where they continued to question him.
Cambria says Kurtz felt like a detainee over the two days he was at the
hotel. Paul Moskal, spokesman for the Buffalo office of the FBI, says the
bureau put Kurtz in a hotel because his home had been declared off limits.
The probe, Moskal says, was a by-the-books affair from the very beginning.

"Post-9/11 protocol is such that first-responders have all been given
training about unusual things and unusual situations," Moskal says.

And obviously, says Lt. Jake Ulewski, spokesman for the Buffalo police,
what the cops eyeballed raised some alarms. "He's making cultures? That's
a little off the wall."

Erie County health officials declared the Kurtz home a potential health
risk and sealed it for two days while a state lab examined the bacterial
cultures found inside. Officials won't divulge what precisely was
examined, but it turned out not to be a danger to public health. And the
house was reopened for use.

Still, federal authorities think something in that house might have been
illegal, Cambria surmises. But Cambria denies there was anything illegal
in the house. William Hochul Jr., chief of the anti-terrorism unit for the
U.S. attorney's office in the Western District of New York, would not
comment on the investigation.

Kurtz, on Cambria's advice, isn't speaking to the press either.

Da Costa, a professor at the University of California at Irvine who has
flown to Buffalo to help out, says Kurtz is "depressed" and dealing with
the loss of his wife, who died of a heart attack. Today the Buffalo arts
community will memorialize her.

Adele Henderson, chair of the art department of the State University of
New York at Buffalo, where Kurtz has tenure, is among the people who've
been questioned by the FBI.

On May 21, she says, the FBI asked her about Kurtz's art, his writings,
his books; why his organization (the art ensemble) is listed as a
collective rather than by its individual members; how it is funded.

"They asked me if I'd be surprised if I found out he was found to be
involved in bioterrorism," she says.

Her response? "I am absolutely certain that Steve would not be involved."

They also asked about "his personal life," Henderson says, but she would
not describe the questions or her responses.

The investigation, she says, will have no bearing on Kurtz's standing at
the university, where he is an associate professor. (Prior to Buffalo, he
taught at Carnegie Mellon University.)

"This is a free speech issue, and some people at the university remember a
time during the McCarthy period when some university professors were
harassed quite badly," she says.

Nonetheless, considering the kind of art Kurtz practices and the kind of
supplies he uses, "I could see how they would think it was really
strange."

For instance: the mobile DNA extracting machine used for testing food
products for genetic contamination. Such a machine was in Kurtz's home.
His focus, in recent years, has been on projects that highlight the
trouble with genetically modified seeds.

In November 2002, in an installation called "Molecular Invasion," Kurtz
grew genetically modified seeds in small pots beneath growth lamps at the
Corcoran Gallery of Art, then engineered them in reverse with herbicide,
meaning he killed them.

"We thought it was very important to have Critical Art Ensemble here
because we try to have our visiting artist's program present work that
takes our curriculum to the next step," says Denise Mullen, vice dean of
the Corcoran College of Art and Design, whose Hemicycle Gallery hosted
Kurtz's molecular exhibit.

Beyond the cutting edge of art, she says, "we want work that is really
bleeding edge."

In Buffalo, in the aftermath of the bioterror probe that has found no
terror, activist artists have scooped up the refuse from the Kurtz front
yard and taken it away, perhaps, says da Costa, to create an art
installation.
+
-

Complete updates, including exact nature of charges, explanation of a
Grand Jury, who was subpoenaed, an official letter of support and more
recent press from the LA Weekly here:

http://caedefensefund.org/
or:
http://flatearth.media.mit.edu/cae_defense/index.html

Here are some contrasting reactions to the Kurtz case…


———- Forwarded message ———-
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 13:26:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: disturbing story


*I heard it. That sure is one top-notch Scandal
in Bohemia. I don't know the guy. Do you know him?

*What if he poisoned his spouse? That's not exactly
unheard-of activity, in the art world or anywhere else.
In fact, whenever a woman's found dead, the cops
generally make a beeline for the husband or boyfriend.
The charge is pretty weird, but the suspicion isn't.


Bruce S



/////////

thread: nettime date: 2004-06-03
from: [email protected] time: 09:42:38
subject: <nettime> TACTICAL OUTRAGE


There has been a staggering amount of email exchange
about the Steve Kurtz case on a wide variety of
list-serves in the past two weeks and it is highly
unlikely that anyone in the artistic communities
receiving these messages agrees with the FBI.
Letters from individuals denouncing the FBI moves
would best be
directed at public officials, law enforcement and the
media, rather than continuing to preach to the
converted.

It is a bit surprising that so many seem to
believe that the FBI really thinks CAE broke a law -
the history of repression of 60s "radicals"
demonstrates that law enforcement can and does work to
concoct illegality when a climate of fear and the
criminalization of dissent is the ultimate goal. The
demonizing of biotech artists in the present is the
equivalent of the crackdown on white student radicals
of the late 60s. The FBI then like now worked with
other branches of government, from the CIA to the IRS,
generate wide reaching campaigns against leftists
WITHOUT THEIR HAVING DONE ANYTHING WRONG. That is why
it is strategically more effective to look at the big
picture rather than treating Kurtz like a single
martyr.

Several people have already raised the important point
that the Kurtz case is only one of many many instances
of unwarranted and excessive repression by law
enforcement targetting intellectuals, artists,
activists and journalists. I join them in expressing
hope that all the artists who are concerned about
CAEs current travails demonstrate equal concern for
the other "cultural interventionists" in the US and
abroad who have suffered even greater and more
systematic repression and who do not have the same
degree of access to the media, famous lawyers or
supporters with money to contribute to their defense.
I hope I never have to post another story on nettime
about artists and activists in Latin America, for
example, who are getting shot at, arrested, jailed
without trial,or otherwise mistreated ALL THE TIME
only to have those reports garner no other response
than a dry comment on how multinational corporations
are more violent that right wing populist regimes or
what have you.

Numerous other stories have been circulating about the
recent arrest of Animal Rights activists in New Jersey
on terrorism charges, about the arrest and torture of
anti-globalization activists in Guadalajara, about the
brutal treatment of Arab journalists working for NBC
in Iraq at the hands of US soldiers, and about
the unprompted arrival of undercover cops in yellow
cabs to the "Majority Whipped" opening at White Box
Gallery in NYC last month to shut down an event
designed as a warm up for the Republican National
Convention. "Art veterans" of battles with the US
government during the culture wars of the early 90s
will recall that the fetishizing of Mapplethorpe and
Serrano turned out to be a very stupid move – because
it left the rest of the arts community completely
vulnerable to the repercussions of those highly
publicized skirmishes. As a result of those
individualistically oriented tactics, we now live in
an artworld that has completely introjected and
naturalized the conservative cultural views of the
backlash against institutional critique, civil rights
inspired interrogations of gender,class and race, and
all forms of art that addresses the social.

Learn from the past so as not to repeat it.

Coco Fusco

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger.
http://messenger.yahoo.com/

# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
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# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
# more info: [email protected] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
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Giggle, this is the problem with americanas being so
stupid and not having basic biological knowledge.
I mean anyone with any knowledge of biology and read
the case would find such an assertion.

I'm sorry I am bilogist by training and if this wasn't so dangerous
a situation with regard to someone's rights it would be
laughable. I mean all these task forces on this that and
the other thing >should< know what are dqngerous biological
agents and what aren't I mean yeasst is a biological agent
for heaven's sake and bnrewing is an act of culturing that
agent to get active chemicals out of it!

Gasp! I used to think that people on the well prided themselves
as being intelligent, thoughtful and reasonable. Now I see they
can be just as stupid and lacking in basic science knowledge
as the rest of the good ole USA with its fine tradition of
snti-intellectualism. Unless it is muttered from some TV actress
with nice legs who is playing a coroner or something.

This is the big problem we have had our lives turned over
to stupid people who don't know what they are doing or
how to think clearly and evaluate anything. Bacteria don't
usually cause cardiac arrest! But here we another case of
people being inthe mode of "I have made up my mind don't
confuse me with the facts".

Are the Buffalo police just stupid? Is the Joint Terrorism
Task Force stupid? SOunds like it to me! There is a bloody
university there that this poor guy is at, that has a biology
department, which should have a microbiologist there would
could tell you what is dangerous and what isn't. In fact there
should be 100 in 100km of Buffalo who should be able to be
consulted and give one a pretty good idea what is dangerous and
what isn't. And that is the real questions because we share
the planet with many billions of bacteria and "biological agents"
some of which are essential for survival.

The question is not whether people 1960s, 1970s or 1980s or
2000 era radicals, the question is whether they were up to
dangerous things with dangerous microbial critters. The critter
in this case is Serratia Marcencens which hardly gets near
pathogenic (able to make you sick for the uniformed who don't
like words with too many letters!; If you want to see a list
of nasty critters, here is a reasonable one:
http://www.ehrs.upenn.edu/protocols/slctagnts_list.html#y

I sincerly hope that someone will make these stupid anti-terrorism
people look stupid and make them the laughingstock they so
surely deserve. If they were intelligent, knew what they were
talking about or had real information then I might be tempted
to think of them as better than armed, stupid dangerous people,
who have nothing better to do then make the lives of freedom
loving americans miserable because they actually exercised some
of that wonderful freedoms we are always told we have brave twenty year
olds somewhere in the world fighting and dying to preserve.


Have Fun,
Sends Steve

P.S. Gack! I am sorry to be some flaming, but it really does
get irritating. This is much worse than Officer O. who is a
hardcore Christian in Ohio who stops kids and questions about
witchcraft, this is something that deals with our basic rights
to live and express ourselves freely.


>
>
> Here are some contrasting reactions to the Kurtz case…
>
>
> ———- Forwarded message ———-
> Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 13:26:28 -0400 (EDT)
> From: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: disturbing story
>
>
> *I heard it. That sure is one top-notch Scandal
> in Bohemia. I don't know the guy. Do you know him?
>
> *What if he poisoned his spouse? That's not exactly
> unheard-of activity, in the art world or anywhere else.
> In fact, whenever a woman's found dead, the cops
> generally make a beeline for the husband or boyfriend.
> The charge is pretty weird, but the suspicion isn't.
>
>
> Bruce S
>
>
>
> /////////
>
> thread: nettime date: 2004-06-03
> from: [email protected] time: 09:42:38
> subject: <nettime> TACTICAL OUTRAGE
>
>
> There has been a staggering amount of email exchange
> about the Steve Kurtz case on a wide variety of
> list-serves in the past two weeks and it is highly
> unlikely that anyone in the artistic communities
> receiving these messages agrees with the FBI.
> Letters from individuals denouncing the FBI moves
> would best be
> directed at public officials, law enforcement and the
> media, rather than continuing to preach to the
> converted.
>
> It is a bit surprising that so many seem to
> believe that the FBI really thinks CAE broke a law -
> the history of repression of 60s "radicals"
> demonstrates that law enforcement can and does work to
> concoct illegality when a climate of fear and the
> criminalization of dissent is the ultimate goal. The
> demonizing of biotech artists in the present is the
> equivalent of the crackdown on white student radicals
> of the late 60s. The FBI then like now worked with
> other branches of government, from the CIA to the IRS,
> generate wide reaching campaigns against leftists
> WITHOUT THEIR HAVING DONE ANYTHING WRONG. That is why
> it is strategically more effective to look at the big
> picture rather than treating Kurtz like a single
> martyr.
>
> Several people have already raised the important point
> that the Kurtz case is only one of many many instances
> of unwarranted and excessive repression by law
> enforcement targetting intellectuals, artists,
> activists and journalists. I join them in expressing
> hope that all the artists who are concerned about
> CAEs current travails demonstrate equal concern for
> the other "cultural interventionists" in the US and
> abroad who have suffered even greater and more
> systematic repression and who do not have the same
> degree of access to the media, famous lawyers or
> supporters with money to contribute to their defense.
> I hope I never have to post another story on nettime
> about artists and activists in Latin America, for
> example, who are getting shot at, arrested, jailed
> without trial,or otherwise mistreated ALL THE TIME
> only to have those reports garner no other response
> than a dry comment on how multinational corporations
> are more violent that right wing populist regimes or
> what have you.
>
> Numerous other stories have been circulating about the
> recent arrest of Animal Rights activists in New Jersey
> on terrorism charges, about the arrest and torture of
> anti-globalization activists in Guadalajara, about the
> brutal treatment of Arab journalists working for NBC
> in Iraq at the hands of US soldiers, and about
> the unprompted arrival of undercover cops in yellow
> cabs to the "Majority Whipped" opening at White Box
> Gallery in NYC last month to shut down an event
> designed as a warm up for the Republican National
> Convention. "Art veterans" of battles with the US
> government during the culture wars of the early 90s
> will recall that the fetishizing of Mapplethorpe and
> Serrano turned out to be a very stupid move – because
> it left the rest of the arts community completely
> vulnerable to the repercussions of those highly
> publicized skirmishes. As a result of those
> individualistically oriented tactics, we now live in
> an artworld that has completely introjected and
> naturalized the conservative cultural views of the
> backlash against institutional critique, civil rights
> inspired interrogations of gender,class and race, and
> all forms of art that addresses the social.
>
> Learn from the past so as not to repeat it.
>
> Coco Fusco
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger.
> http://messenger.yahoo.com/
>
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> # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
> # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
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>

re: letters of support (see below)

this will be the last cross-post from me for a while – by a bizarre quirk
of fate I am spending the weekend in…Buffalo.


best,
jg


///////////////
posted on nettime June 4, 2004

CAE - request to sign open letter of protest
Eric Kluitenberg <[email protected]>
Letter of support for Steve Kurtz
Rana Dasgupta <[email protected]>

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Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 16:33:11 +0200
From: Eric Kluitenberg <[email protected]>
Subject: CAE - request to sign open letter of protest

Helsinki / Amsterdam, June 4, 2004

Dear friends and colleagues,

We are sure that many of you have been following the deeply worrying
events around the subpoenas that have been serfed to members of the
US-based arts collective Critical Art Ensemble. We, Amanda McDonald
Crowley and Eric Kluitenberg, have taken the initiative to write an
open letter of protest asking for an immediate cesation of legal
proceedings against our esteemed and distinguished colleagues. We
think that this case signals a most worrysome trend in public
political life in the United States and cannot be left unaddressed.

We ask all of you who have worked with the Critical Art Ensemble in
recent years, and others who feel offended by this unacceptable
infringement on artistic freedom, to contact us to sign this letter
of protest as members of a deeply concerned professional community.

Please find the letter below. if you wish to sign send us an e-mail
stating your name, your profession, your institutional affiliation
(if you have one) and possibly a url that best represents your work
or professional activity.

Thank you.

Amanda McDonald Crowley
[email protected]

Eric Kluitenberg
[email protected]



—————-


To whom it may concern,

We, the undersigned artists, curators, critics, cultural producers,
theorists and writers who have worked with or followed the work of
the collective known as Critical Art Ensemble, are writing to express
our serious concern over legal proceedings brought against members of
this highly respected artists group.

Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) is a collective of internationally
recognised artists who work within pedagogic frameworks and art
contexts to raise awareness of a range of social issues. Most
recently their work has been directed towards providing the general
public with awareness and understanding of issues to do with
biological research. Their work is not alarmist but rather provides
knowledge.

CAEs work is always undertaken in a safe and considered way, using
materials which are commonly available in scientific education and
research practices. Their main motivation is to provide the public
with the tools needed to make informed choices.

It has come to our attention that there was a recent seizure of a
substantial amount of the artists work and research material. The
international art scene was shocked and surprised to learn that the
US Federal Bureau of Investigation, following an analysis of the
materials by the Commissioner of Public Health for New York State
which returned the result that the material seized posed no public
safety risk, have continued with their investigation and are now
seeking to charge members of the collective under the US Biological
Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act as expanded by the USA Patriot Act.

Whilst it is perhaps understandable in the current international
political climate that such research might raise alarm bells with
American authorities, it would have also been clear, upon
investigation, that the aims of CAE are not a terrorist act, but an
awareness raising action undertaken with cultural, artistic and
educational agendas. Indeed CAEs work is quite in keeping with
mainstream art practices, which have, throughout history, had
pedagogical aims.

Having worked with CAE in various settings throughout the world we
have found CAEs approach has always been to understand and to know
the topicthat they are presenting. It comes as no surprise, given
the current focusof their work, that the research tools included
biological material.However, those of us in the art world who have
worked with this artistsgroup also know that their work is
undertaken with thorough research, incontinuous consultation with
members of the scientific community, in orderto ensure that the
artworks they produce are safe, but also real, in termsof the
investigations they pursue. The work of CAE is
internationally recognised as thorough, investigative, educative and
safe.

This matter is one that raises serious concerns internationally that
the actions of the American government undermine the freedom of
artistic expression, a fundamental democratic right, which is one of
the cornerstones of the liberal democracies.

As the materials have been tested and been shown to pose no public
health threat, we demand that the American Government immediately
cease legal action against members of the Critical Art Ensemble
collective.

The good reputation of Critical Art Ensemble must be immediately restored.

Yours faithfully,


Amanda McDonald Crowley,
cultural worker/ curator, currently executive producer ISEA2004
(International Symposium of Electronic Art 2004),
Australia/Finland
http://www.isea2004.net


Eric Kluitenberg
Head of the Media Program
De Balie - Centre for Culture and Politics
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
http://www.debalie.nl



Signatories:

name/profession/position/country/url




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Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2004 13:14:56 +0530
From: Rana Dasgupta <[email protected]>
Subject: Letter of support for Steve Kurtz

D-383 Defence Colony
New Delhi 110 024
India

June 3rd 2004

To Whom It May Concern

*Re: Protest against charges against Steve Kurtz, Ph.D., Assistant
Professor, Department of Art, University of Buffalo*

As a writer and independent scholar who has had frequent reason to draw
on the work of Steve Kurtz and the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE), I would
like to attest to its seriousness and importance, and to protest against
the absurd and shameful charges brought against Mr Kurtz by the FBI.
I would request that these charges be dropped immediately and that the
FBI make a formal apology for their wrongful intervention in Mr Kurtzs
life.
A major element of Mr Kurtzs work has been to consider in a serious way
the ethical questions raised by new biotechnologies - an undertaking
acknowledged by all public figures (including President George W. Bush
and Pope John-Paul II) to be crucial for a sane future.

This work has taken as its starting-point the notion that ethical
standards cannot be developed in private by "experts", but that they
must be developed through genuinely public dialogue and debate. For
this reason, it has always been conducted with great attention to
openness and transparency. If the FBI were to consult the groups
publications, public presentations and exhibitions, and online
documents, it would discover that their ideas and activities have been
conducted entirely in the public domain. Moreover, since public safety
is precisely the question at stake in their work, this issue has always
taken prime importance, and they have always addressed it in
consultation with eminent scientists from leading U.S. institutions.
There is nothing covert, suspicious, or irresponsible about their work.

I have never met Steve Kurtz. However, I have followed closely the
publications and art works of the Critical Art Ensemble for several
years, and I have also had occasion to see public presentations by
Beatriz da Costa, in which she answered extensive questions about the
nature and guiding principles of the groups work. I can say on the
basis of this engagement, not only that Steve Kurtz and the CAE are
honest in their exploration of these pressing issues, but that their
work is among the most important contributions to public debate in this
arena.

The attempt to denigrate this valuable work by throwing ignorant and
melodramatic names at it is absurd and shameful, and highly embarassing
for those doing the throwing.

The suspicions of the FBI are based on little more than the observation
that Steve had laboratory equipment in his house. This equipment is
easily obtained, there is nothing illegal about possessing it, and the
most cursory of Internet searches would have revealed exactly why it was
there. To subject him to this treatment on such a basis of so trivial
an observation represents a serious breach of the principles of freedom
of expression and the presumption of innocence.

In the /Washington Post/s coverage of this story, Lt. Jake Ulewski,
spokesman for the Buffalo police, is quoted as saying about Mr. Kurtz,
"Hes making cultures? Thats a little off the wall."

Is it now possible to detain someone and subject them to criminal
charges just because some ignorant observer thinks what they do with
their time appears "a little off the wall"?

The society of homogeneity and conformity that is implied by such a
scenario is one in which no one takes responsibility for asking or
answering its more difficult questions. Steve Kurtz and the CAE have
always been open about their commitment to doing just that. In an open,
forward-thinking and just society, such an honourable enterprise would
invite praise, not censure.

Yours Faithfully

Rana Dasgupta
Writer and independent scholar
www.ranadasgupta.com

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# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
# more info: [email protected] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
# archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected]

one last, from Wired:

Twisted Tale of Art, Death, DNA
By Mark Baard
02:00 AM Jun. 04, 2004 PT

http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,63637,00.html?tw=rss.TOP

The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/07/nyregion/07buffalo.html?pagewanted=all&position=

Use of Bacteria in Art Leads to Federal Inquiry
By DAVID STABA
Published: June 7, 2004


BUFFALO, June 6 - The F.B.I. agents in hazardous-material suits are gone
from Steven Kurtz's house here.

He has buried his wife, Hope, whom Mr. Kurtz, an art professor at the
University of Buffalo, found dead in their home last month. But the
attention of federal investigators, drawn after his wife's death to Mr.
Kurtz and the tools of his unusual means of artistic expression, has not
ended.

Civil liberties advocates and supporters of Mr. Kurtz say the case is a
matter of the authorities' misdirecting post-Sept. 11 investigative zeal
and in the process, trampling First Amendment rights to artistic
expression. Fellow members of his art ensemble, which describes itself as
"dedicated to exploring the intersections between art, technology, radical
politics and critical theory,'' call it frightening.

On May 11, Mr. Kurtz phoned 911 after waking to find Hope Kurtz, 45, his
wife of 20 years, unresponsive. One of the paramedics who arrived at the
Kurtz home noticed laboratory equipment used in Mr. Kurtz's artwork. That
observation triggered a series of events that led to F.B.I. agents
shuffling through the home in hazardous-material suits and confiscating
the equipment and biological material. They also carted off his books,
personal papers and computer.

The authorities searched the house for two days before announcing that
there was no public health risk and that no toxic material had been found.
Mr. Kurtz was allowed to return home on May 17, and his wife's death was
attributed by the authorities to heart failure.

An F.B.I. spokesman, Paul Moskal, referred all questions to the United
States attorney's office in Buffalo. William J. Hochul Jr., the lead
terrorism prosecutor for the office, declined to comment on the case,
citing Justice Department policy regarding current investigations.

Mr. Kurtz, 46, is not talking to reporters, either. His fellow artists and
his lawyer are speaking on his behalf.

"No one likes the whole force of the whole federal government to come down
around their shoulders," said Mr. Kurtz's lawyer, Paul J. Cambria, who
represented Larry Flynt, the Hustler magazine publisher, in his Supreme
Court case over censorship. "He feels he's being unfairly treated and
would like it all to be over."

But members of the art collective Mr. Kurtz founded, the Critical Art
Ensemble, say it is far from over.

A member of the collective, Beatriz da Costa, an art professor at the
University of California, Irvine, said she was leaving her hotel to attend
an art show in North Adams, Mass., last Sunday when a stranger called out
to her.

"I heard someone say my name," she said. "I turned around and an F.B.I.
agent was there and served me with the subpoena." She was summoned to
appear before a federal grand jury in Buffalo on June 15.

Ensemble members heard reports that F.B.I. agents had questioned museum
curators and administrators at university art departments with connections
to the group. The group produces Web sites, books and touring shows and
orchestrates 1960's-style "happenings," aimed at showing the impact of
technology and its representation on modern life.

"We knew there was an investigation going on - they were talking to people
and they weren't giving him his stuff back," said Steven B. Barnes of
Tallahassee, Fla., another founding member of the group, who was
subpoenaed to testify before the federal grand jury along with Ms. da
Costa. "Those things had nothing to do with public health."

Ms. da Costa said her subpoena indicated the grand jury is looking into
"possession of biological agents."

She said the bacteria E. coli, which can be fatal in some forms and
harmless in others, was used in a Critical Art Ensemble production called
"GenTerra," which looked at genetic engineering of organisms from the
perspective of a fictional corporation.

"I know everything we did was legal," Ms. da Costa said. "We didn't buy it
illegally or make it ourselves. We worked in cooperation with a
microbiology lab in Pittsburgh to create a transgenic E. coli that was
completely harmless." Transgenic cells include genes or DNA transferred by
genetic engineering from a different type of living thing.

The bacteria's benign nature was one of the central themes of the work,
which allowed audience members to expose themselves to the material.

"We were kind of demystifying the whole procedure and trying to alleviate
inappropriate fear of transgenic science and redirect concern toward the
political implications of the research," Mr. Barnes said.

Mr. Kurtz's fellow artists believe federal prosecutors will try to show
that his possession of E. coli and other forms of bacteria - harmless or
not - violated a federal law. The statute they refer to was expanded and
strengthened by the Patriot Act passed after Sept. 11, 2001, and
subsequent anthrax scares in Washington and elsewhere. It prohibits the
possession of "any biological agent, toxin, or delivery system of a type
or in a quantity that, under the circumstances, is not reasonably
justified by a prophylactic, protective, bona fide research, or other
peaceful purpose."

Supporters maintained that the "peaceful purpose" exception should have
snuffed out the investigation well before it got to the grand jury.

"Once they established that nothing in that house was toxic and that he
had no connections to anyone but legitimate artistic and educational
institutions, this should have been dropped," Mr. Barnes said. "Everything
he's ever done has been in the public sphere. There's no secret or private
work. The transgenic bacteria was part of a show that's been traveling
across the country for two years."

A spokesman for the New York Civil Liberties Union said the initial phases
of the Kurtz investigation were handled properly. The group had previously
criticized the Buffalo offices of the United States attorney and the
F.B.I. for their handling of the case of six men from the neighboring city
of Lackawanna who pleaded guilty last year to attending a Qaeda terrorist
training camp in Afghanistan in the summer of 2001.

John Curr III, assistant director of the Buffalo chapter of the civil
liberties union, said of the Kurtz investigation, "Given the set of
circumstances when it happened, I don't think there was an overreaction.
Unless there's some golden nugget of information that they're not sharing,
we feel they're overreacting now.''

"The code even makes a stipulation about a 'peaceful purpose,' '' Mr. Curr
went on. "I don't think anybody could make the argument he was doing
anything that wasn't peaceful.''

Mr. Barnes said: "We're not an activist group. We're what we refer to as
tactical media. We're mainly interested in issues of cultural
representation, how things are represented to the public, and what's the
ideology and the subtext to how something is being represented."

The group's works, many of which can be seen online at
www.critical-art.net, include Web sites and mock newspaper ads touting
fictional biotech companies, and shows in which the audience has the
chance to drink beer containing human DNA.

"That's the essence of the First Amendment," said Mr. Cambria, Mr. Kurtz's
lawyer. "It allows people to be different and express themselves in unique
and creative ways. It's unsettling any time that the government comes down
on someone because of the message they're trying to send or because
they're different, because they're not cookie-cutter individuals in the
eyes of clean-cut, blazer-wearing people. He's to be applauded for his
individuality."

Up until the moment he and Ms. da Costa were served with their subpoenas,
Mr. Barnes said he was confident no reason would be found to prosecute Mr.
Kurtz.

"I was optimistic that when they saw what was going on and talked to
enough people, they were going to realize there was no threat and no
crime," Mr. Barnes said. When he was subpoenaed, he said his reaction was:
" 'They're really going to do this. They're going to push this.' I was
also a little disturbed to realize I was being followed."


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