[nettime-fr] art biotech et Joint Terrorism Task Force

[rike <rike@no-log.org>]

merci beaucoup a maurice pour la traduction!!

This is a forwarded message
From: Maurice Benayoun <mb@benayoun.com>
To: "'rike'" <rike@no-log.org>
Date: Sunday, June 6, 2004, 5:45:03 PM
Subject: FWD : art biotech et Joint Terrorism Task Force

===8<==============Original message text===============

Voici une introduction en français au message, un peu long pour être
entièrement traduit mais je pense qu’il serait interessant de conserver la
version anglaise pour une information plus précise :

 

Message reçu de Lynn Hershman (personnalité historique et militante de la
création numérique)

 

Des artistes assignés au titre du USA Patriot Act. La justice fédérale
semble confondre art biotech et bioterrorisme.

Jugement le 15 juin.

 

Urgent : Demande de soutien 

Le 11 mai, Steve Kurtz trouve en se réveillant son épouse, Hope, décédée
d’un arrêt cardiaque. Il fait le 911 et la police arrive et trouve des tubes
à essais et des boites de petri qu’il utilisait pour un projet artistique.
Immédiatement il est arrêté, le block est cerné par la police, ses
ordinateurs, manuscrits et documents sont saisis ainsi que  le corps de son
épouse pour analyse.

 

Trois artistes ont été assignés à comparaître dans un procès contre un
artiste poursuivi pour bioterrorisme.

Beatriz da Costa et Steve Barnes sont membres du Critical Art
Ensemble (CAE), un collectif d’artistes qui produit des œuvres pour
sensibiliser le public aux conséquences de biotechnologies. Le troisième
artiste, Paul Vanouse, est professeur d’art à l’université de Buffalo. 
Afin de soutenir la défense de Steve Kurtz le fond de soutien a déjà reçu
200 dons de 5 à 400$

HYPERLINK "http://www.caedefensefund.org/"http://www.caedefensefund.org

pour une lettre de soutien de la part d’artistes, de scientifiques et de
biologistes :

http://www.caedefensefund.org/

 

Version complete du message de Lynn :

mb

maurice Benayoun

CITU

HYPERLINK "http://www.moben.net/"www.moben.net

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: lynn hershman [mailto:lynn2@well.com] 
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 10:16 AM
Subject: in case you had not heard about this:.

 

June 2, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Beatriz da Costa, mailto:media@caedefensefund.org

ARTISTS SUBPOENAED IN USA PATRIOT ACT CASE
Feds STILL unable to distinguish art from bioterrorism
Grand jury to convene June 15

            HELP URGENTLY NEEDED - SEE BELOW

Three artists have been served subpoenas to appear before a federal
grand jury that will consider bioterrorism charges against a
university professor whose art involves the use of simple biology
equipment.

The subpoenas are the latest installment in a bizarre investigation
in which members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force have mistaken an
art project for a biological weapons laboratory (see end for
background). While most observers have assumed that the Task Force
would realize the absurd error of its initial investigation of Steve
Kurtz, the subpoenas indicate that the feds have instead chosen to
press their "case" against the baffled professor.

Two of the subpoenaed artists--Beatriz da Costa and Steve Barnes--are,
like Kurtz, members of the internationally-acclaimed Critical Art
Ensemble (CAE), an artists' collective that produces artwork to
educate the public about the politics of biotechnology. They were
served the subpoenas by federal agents who tailed them to an art show
at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. The third artist,
Paul Vanouse, is, like Kurtz, an art professor at the University at
Buffalo. He has worked with CAE in the past.

The artists involved are at a loss to explain the increasingly bizarre
case. "I have no idea why they're continuing (to investigate)," said
Beatriz da Costa, one of those subpoenaed. "It was shocking that this
investigation was ever launched. That it is continuing is positively
frightening, and shows how vulnerable the PATRIOT Act has made freedom
of speech in this country." Da Costa is an art professor at the
University of California at Irvine.

According to the subpoenas, the FBI is seeking charges under Section
175 of the US Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, which has
been expanded by the USA PATRIOT Act. As expanded, this law prohibits
the possession of "any biological agent, toxin, or delivery system"

without the justification of "prophylactic, protective, bona fide
research, or other peaceful purpose." (See
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/175.html for the 1989 law and
http://www.ehrs.upenn.edu/protocols/patriot/sec817.html for its USA
PATRIOT Act expansion.)

Even under the expanded powers of the USA PATRIOT Act, it is difficult
to understand how anyone could view CAE's art as anything other than a
"peaceful purpose." The equipment seized by the FBI consisted mainly of
CAE's most recent project, a mobile DNA extraction laboratory to test
store-bought food for possible contamination by genetically modified
grains and organisms; such equipment can be found in any university's
basic biology lab and even in many high schools (see "Lab Tour" at
http://www.critical-art.net/biotech/free/ for more details).

The grand jury in the case is scheduled to convene June 15 in Buffalo,
New York. Here, the jury will decide whether or not to indict Steve
Kurtz on the charges brought by the FBI. A protest is being planned at
9 a.m. on June 15 outside the courthouse at 138 Delaware Ave. in
Buffalo.

HELP NEEDED

Financial donations:
The CAE Defense Fund has so far received over 200 donations in amounts
ranging from $5 to $400. This is a wonderful outpouring of sympathy,
but a drop in the bucket compared to the potential costs of the case.
To make a donation, please visit http://www.caedefensefund.org/

Letters of support:
Letters and petitions of support from biologists, artists, and others,
especially those in positions of responsibility at prominent
institutions or companies, could be very useful. See

http://www.caedefensefund.org/ for a sample letter of support.

Legal offers and letters of support:
If you are a lawyer, offers of pro bono support or offers to write
amicus briefs would be very helpful.

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/

To join a list about the case, please visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAE_Defense

Articles and television stories about the case:
http://www.appliedautonomy.com/cae/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8278-2004Jun1.html
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--materialsremoved0601jun01,0
,3539235.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040602/1048042.asp

On advice of counsel, Steve Kurtz is unable to answer questions
regarding his case. Please direct questions or comments to
mailto:media@caedefensefund.org.

 

 

Carl Goodman / cgoodman@movingimage.us

 

IAA Institute for Applied Autonomy / tad@media.mit.edu

 

Justin Manor / justin@justinmanor.com

 

Maurice Benayoun / mb@benayoun.com

 

Jim Campbell / jc@jimcampbell.tv

 

Perry Hoberman / hoberman@bway.net

 

Golan Levin /

 

Zach Lieberman /

 

Gerfried Stocker / HYPERLINK
"mailto:gerfried.stocker@aec.at"gerfried.stocker@aec.at

 


-- 

Lynn Hershman
1201 California street
san Francisco, california 94109
415 567 6180


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