Author
C.Weaver
Recording of the recent event hosted by ArtsCatalyst at the Royal Institution of Great Britain on the 7th of February 2005
This recording is a talk given by artist and researcher Steve Kurtz, of the Critical Art Ensemble, recently arrested by the FBI and still facing charges.
The talk (co-chaired with Claire Pentecost with the Critical Art Ensemble Defense Fund) covers the events leading to the arrest, the intersection between art and bio-politics and, ultmately, captials appropriation of the genetic commons.
Steve Kurtz was wrongly arrested earlier this year by the FBI on charges relating to bioterrorism, because he had sourced some harmless bacteria to use in an artistic project. The bioterrorism charges were finally dropped by a Grand Jury, after an international storm of protest, however Steve still faces FBI charges of mail fraud (a charge traditionally used by the FBI when they can't pin another charge on someone - Critical Art Ensemble are known for their political views expressed through their work). Also indicted was Robert Ferrell, head of the Department of Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Public Health. The charges concern technicalities of how Ferrell helped Kurtz to obtain $256 worth of harmless bacteria for one of Kurtz's art projects.
Artists, scientists and civil liberties groups internationally have publicly condemned both the old and new charges and the continued harrassment of Steve Kurtz and many people that he has worked with. These new charges still carry a potential jail sentence of 20 years and threaten many researchers in the sciences who source material in a similar way.
You can read more about this case at http://www.caedefensefund.org/
http://www.artscatalyst.org/