Lennaart van Oldenborgh will present a preview of a film in development about the work and trial of Steve Kurtz, one of the founders of Critical Art Ensemble, which is internationally known for its work on the intersection of art and bio-technology.
In May 2004, Kurtz was detained by the FBI on suspicion of bio-terrorism. In the same year, he was indicted on a technicality for Mail and Wire Fraud, an offense punishable by up to 20 years’ prison. For two years, Kurtz’s defense has tried in vain to get the case dismissed, although a date for the trial has yet to be set. In the meantime, Kurtz has managed to continue his work with Critical Art Ensemble, producing both a book and a film on “The Marching Plague”, their take on bio-weapons and bio-defense.
H+O Films (Lennaart van Oldenborgh and Adnan Hadzi) and their American collaborators (Rich Pell, Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum) have followed the Kurtz case from the moment he was allowed to re-enter his house after it was searched by a Joint Terrorism Task Force. The movie will show how the work of the Critical Art Ensemble aroused suspicions from an establishment which believes that any “amateur” working with bio-technology must be a potential terrorist, which believes that science must not be just regulated, but must be classified according to the perceived security requirements of the state.
This is exactly what the work of Critical Art Ensemble agitates against; according to them, research and knowledge must be free to empower citizens to make up their own minds about the uses and desirability of bio-technology.
The CDA's archives are operating with the support of the Ostrovsky Family Fund and Artis
