artist, activist and researcher, arrested by the FBI and still facing charges
On Monday 7 February 2005, at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London, Steve Kurtz of Critical Art Ensemble spoke about his case for the first time since his arrest in the USA. He was accompanied by CLAIRE PENTECOST from the Critical Art Ensemble Defense Fund.
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.
Listen to Steve's talk here
You can read more about this case at http://www.caedefensefund.org/
Steve Kurtz and Claire Pentecost also appeared at transmediale 05 in association with the Arts Catalyst on Sunday 6 February 2005.
transmediale 05
Berlin, Germany
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