Fwd: April 17 Benefit Auction; new bioterrorism charges likely

April 12, 2005

Type: discussion

> PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY
>
> April 13, 2005
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> Contact: mailto:[email protected]
>
> MASSIVE ART AUCTION WILL SUPPORT INDICTED ARTIST
> STEVEN KURTZ AS
> BIOTERRORISM CHARGE THREAT RETURNS
> More benefits and donations needed
>
> 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, Ruben
> 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, RubIn 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:[email protected].
>
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________
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