[-empyre-] CAE background and issues

["Melinda Rackham" <melindar@acmi.net.au>]

For those who haven't heard of this case yet, the background is below. It
raises issues around the rights of artists who work with social and
political issues. Are artists leaving themselves open to prosecution for
dealing with bioterrorism and genetic engineering in thier artwork like
Kurtz or SymbioticA, or  making themselves targets for  investigation by
security agencies for  dealing with detention and immigration issues as
boat-people.org and EFW do, or being sued for libel or copyright
infringement when appropriating cultural and corporate images and icons as
Sue Dodds does.

------------
Please dont send your names to the list for the open letter of support ..
rather Amanda has requested that you send them to her and Eric:
- Amanda McDonald Crowley amc at va.com.au
- Eric Kluitenberg erick at balie.nl

CAE background:
Early morning of May 11, Steve Kurtz awoke to find his wife, Hope,
dead of a cardiac arrest. Kurtz called 911. The police arrived and,
after stumbling across test tubes and Petri dishes Kurtz was using
in a current artwork, called in the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Soon agents from the Task Force and FBI detained Kurtz, cordoned off
the entire block around his house, and later impounded Kurtz's
computers, manuscripts, books, equipment, and even his wife's body for
further analysis. The Buffalo Health Department condemned the house as
a health risk.

Only after the Commissioner of Public Health for New York State had
tested samples from the home and announced there was no public safety
threat was Kurtz able to return home and recover his wife's body. Yet
the FBI would not release the impounded materials, which included
artwork for an upcoming exhibition at the Massachusetts Museum of
Contemporary Art.

While most observers assumed the Task Force would realize that its
initial investigation of Steve Kurtz was a terrible mistake, the
subpoenas indicate that the feds have instead chosen to press their
"case" against Kurtz and possibly others.

To donate to the CAE Defense Fund, and for up-to-date information on
the case, please visit http://www.caedefensefund.org/

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




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