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MARCHING PLAGUE - Critical Art Ensemble
In May 2004, FBI agents and the Joint Terrorism Task Force raided Critical Art Ensemble founder Steve Kurtz’s home, seizing art works and research materials for the Marching Plague project. The US government has yet to produce evidence that Kurtz is a bioterrorist, but they refuse to return the seized materials. Despite this, Kurtz has been able to reconstruct the research and produce Marching Plague, commissioned by The Arts Catalyst, and accompanying publication, published by Autonomedia (2006).
Marching Plague - Further Information
In the early 1950s, plague research trials took place off the Isle of Lewis at Stornoway Bay when, having already decided that germ warfare was of no use on land, the British military began to explore whether germs could be used as a naval weapon for ship-to-ship combat. Their tests found that germs were unreliable and unmanageable on the sea as they were on the land.
The film's ultimate aim is to address and dispel some of the public's fear of "bioterrorism", which has been greatly exaggerated since 9/11 (even though that attack had nothing to do with the use of biological agents). This exaggerated fear is based on incomplete awareness of the facts. Moreover, this type of fear has been exploited by governments over the past eight decades to initiate biological warfare programmes at enormous cost.
As the United States returns to an astronomically expensive policy of offensive and expanded germ warfare research, the film revisit the lessons already experienced in regard to the development and use of this technology. It tries to convey a more reasoned perspective about the level of risk to the public as well as the desirability of germ warfare weapons (even within the logic of the military) than is usually presented in more "sensational" fiction or even in television docu-dramas. Finally, the film aims to show how such programmes compete for the limited resources necessary for research in global public health, and emergent infectious disease.
Bioweapons experts and artists, including Heath Bunting and Kayle Brandon, join Steve Kurtz, Steve Barnes and Lucia Sommer of Critical Art Ensemble to discuss bioterrorism, the culture of fear and artistic censorship.
Screenings & Installations
4 Mar 2006 AV Festival, Newcastle, UK
Mar - May 2006 Whitney Biennial, New York, US
28 Apr 2006 Taigh Chearsabhagh Arts Centre, Lochmaddy, Isle of North Uist,
Outer Hebrides, Scotland
28 Apr – 1 Oct 2006 The Culture of Fear, Halle 14, Leipzig, Germany
24 May 2006 Eyebeam, New York, US
30 May 2006 Lewis Film Society, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland
29 July 2006 ICA, The Mall, London, UK (event, film screening, talk)
29 Jul - 5 Aug 2006 ICA, The Mall, London, UK (installation)
Sep 2006 AFI, Seoul , Korea
Lens Political. Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki.
The Royal Danish Art Academy, Copenhagen
The Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon
Days of Bioart 07. Espacio de Consulta_Centre d'Art, Santa Mònica, Bacelona.
NEGATEC. Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Buenos Aires.
Stavanger Biennial, Norway.
Free Party. Moscow Art Center, Moscow.
Public Moment. Art Forum International, Seoul, Korea.
On the Edge. Aarhus Kunstbygning.
Biennial of Electronic Art, Perth.
Read about current charges against Steve Kurtz in the States, connected with his work.
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