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<font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2">Aksioma
–
Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, presents:</font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><b><span
style="background: transparent">Critical
Art Ensemble & Institute for Applied Autonomy</span></b></font>
<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="4"><i><b><span
style="background: transparent">Seized</span></b></i></font>
<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size: 11pt"
size="2"><i><span style="background: transparent">Solo
exhibition</span></i></font>
<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size: 11pt"
size="2"><span style="background: transparent"><a
href="http://www.aksioma.org/seized/index.html"><span
style="font-style: normal">http://www.aksioma.org/seized</span></a></span></font><br>
<br>
</font>
<font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2"><span
style="background: transparent"><font color="#141414"><span
lang="en-US"><b>Aksioma
</b></span></font><font color="#141414"><span lang="en-US"><b>|</b></span></font><font
color="#141414"><span lang="en-US"><b>
Project Space</b></span></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#141414" face="Times New Roman"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span style="background:
transparent">Komenskega
18, Ljubljana</span></font></font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2"><span
style="background: transparent">13
- 29 June 2012</span></font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><b><span
style="background: transparent">Artist's
presentation and exhibition opening: </span></b><span
style="font-weight: normal"><span style="background:
transparent">Wednesday,
13 June 2012 at 8 pm</span></span></font>
<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size: 11pt"
size="2"><b><span style="background: transparent"><font
color="#000000">Screening
of the movie </font><font color="#000000"><i>Strange
Culture:</i></font><font color="#000000"><span
style="font-style: normal">
</span></font></span></b><font color="#000000"><span
style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal"><span
style="background: transparent">Wednesday,
27 June 2012 at 9 pm</span></span></span></font></font>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font color="#ff0000" face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size:
11pt" size="2"><b><span style="background: transparent"><i>True
Crime</i>: Open Call for Submissions </span></b><span
style="font-weight: normal"><span style="background:
transparent">lasting
for the entire duration of the show </span></span><span
style="background: transparent"><i><span style="font-weight:
normal">Seized</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal">.</span></span></font></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font>
<font color="#ff0000" face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size:
11pt" size="2"><span style="background: transparent">Anyone
can contribute to the exhibition <i>Seized</i> by becoming
part of the <i>True
Crime </i>installation.</span></font></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font>
<font face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
color="#ff0000"><span style="background: transparent">Read
the full instruction: </span></font><a
href="http://www.aksioma.org/pdf/True_Crime_eng.pdf">http://www.aksioma.org/pdf/True_Crime_eng.pdf</a></font>
<br>
</font>
<font color="#f50000" face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size:
11pt" size="2"><b><span style="background: transparent"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span lang="en-GB"><br>
Images
available for free download</span></span>:</span></b><font
color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal"><span
style="background: transparent">
</span></span></font></font></font><font face="Times New
Roman">
<br>
</font>
<font color="#f50000" face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size:
11pt" size="2"><span style="background: transparent"><a
href="http://www.aksioma.org/press/seized.zip"><font
color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal">http://www.aksioma.org/press/seized.zip</span></font></a></span></font></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
-----
</font><font face="Times New Roman"><br>
</font>
<font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><b><span
style="background: transparent">Critical
Art Ensemble & Institute for Applied Autonomy</span></b></font>
<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="4"><i><b><span
style="background: transparent">Seized</span></b></i></font>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">The
theme
of the <i>Seized</i> exhibition started as a shocking personal
experience in the paranoid US political climate. In spring 2004,
the
FBI raided the home of art professor and CAE member Steve Kurtz.
What
followed was a four-year legal case that was finally dropped in
2008
due to all evidence of any crime being “insufficient on its
face”.</font>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">The
reason
for the FBI raid is telling… Steve’s wife Hope died
entirely unexpectedly because of an undiagnosed heart defect.
Police
who responded to Kurtz’s 911 call for help noticed a
benign-looking
chemistry laboratory in the house and informed the FBI, who
considered “preparations for an upcoming show” to be a lame
excuse. During the three-day raid, the authorities not only
confiscated Kurtz’s computers, archives, artworks and a set of
books he was using for research on his upcoming book project,
but
also his wife’s corpse. Steve himself was interrogated for 22
hours
with the aim of charging him with “bioterrorism” and even
murder.</font>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">In
the
installation <i>Body of Evidence</i>, CAE and IAA turn the
perpetrator-victim relationship of this horrifying personal
experience upside-down. In the same manner in which the FBI
stole
their artistic material, the artists confiscated pizza boxes,
Gatorade bottles, hazmat suits and biological sample bags, as
well as
written notes and a single cigar butt that were left behind by
the
FBI at the scene of the crime – Steve Kurtz’s lawn. </font>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">The
display
of the notes and papers that the federal agents wrote during
the raid resembles a subversive strategy of
counter-appropriation, as
the artists use the objects the FBI left behind as “evidence” of
their own investigation, and with that act, the power structure
is
subverted. As the actions and rationale of the FBI and the
Department
of Justice are questioned, a rare window into the anatomy of a
“bio-terror” investigation opens up...</font>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">As
we
can read in the catalogue of the <i>Seized </i>exhibition:<br>
<br>
“The
project as an art exhibition raises questions about artistic
freedom
of expression and governmental repression, reflects about the
interdependency between politics and business, and presents
artistic
strategies that try to undercut this. America, the country of
freedom, was the setting for the events which underlie this
exhibition. It shows that it is not self-evident for artists,
even in
a democracy, to criticize the structures of power and to
publicly
take a firm stand.</font>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
color="#000000">Besides
the complex installation </font><font color="#000000"><i>Body
of
Evidence</i></font><font color="#000000">, the exhibition </font><font
color="#000000"><i>Seized</i></font><font color="#000000">
also documents material for works and performances by CAE that
Steve
and Hope were working on just before the raid, such as </font><font
color="#000000"><i>Free
Range Grain</i></font><font color="#000000"> (2003–2004) and
</font><font color="#000000"><i>Molecular Invasion</i></font><font
color="#000000">
(2002–2003), that were confiscated from their home by the FBI
along
with various other household objects.”</font></font>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2"><font
color="#000000"><b>Critical
Art Ensemble (CAE)</b></font><font color="#000000">
is a collective of five tactical media practitioners of various
specializations including computer graphics and web design,
film/video, photography, text art, book art, and performance.</font></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
</font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">Formed
in 1987, CAE's focus has been on the exploration of the
intersections
between art, critical theory, technology, and political
activism. The
group has exhibited and performed at diverse venues
internationally
such as the Whitney Museum and The New Museum in NYC; The ICA,
London; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt and Musée d’Art Moderne de
la
Ville de Paris. </font></font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">The
collective has written 6 books, and its writings have been
translated
into 18 languages.</font></font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><b>The
Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA)</b></span></font></font></span></font><font
color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none">
was founded in 1998 as an anonymous collective of
engineers,
designers, artists and activists united by the cause of
individual
and collective self-determination. Toward this end, the
IAA has
produced numerous projects under its flagship initiative,
Contestational Robotics.
The IAA has won numerous awards
including
the 2000 Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction and
several Prix
Ars Electronica Honorable Mentions; and a Rhizome New
Media
Fellowship.</span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight:
normal">----------</span></span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><i><span
style="text-decoration: none"><b>Strange
Culture</b></span></i></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration:
none"><b>A
film by Lynn Hershman Leeson</b></span></span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><i><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight:
normal">Strange
Culture</span></span></i></font></font></span></font><font
color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight:
normal">
documents the surreal nightmare of
internationally-acclaimed artist
and professor Steve Kurtz which began when his wife Hope
died in her
sleep of heart failure. Police who responded to Kurtz's
911 call
deemed Kurtz's art suspicious and called the FBI. Within
hours the
artist was detained as a suspected "bioterrorist" as
dozens
of federal agents in Hazmat suits sifted through his
work and
impounded his computers, manuscripts, books, his cat,
and even his
wife's body.</span></span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight:
normal">The
film premiered January 19, 2007 at the 2007 Sundance
Film Festival
was also shown in the 2007 Berlin Film Festival. </span></span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight:
normal">Directed
by Lynn Hershman Leeson</span></span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight:
normal">Starring:
Tilda Swinton, Thomas Jay Ryan, Peter Coyote, Josh
Kornbluth </span></span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight:
normal">Music
by The Residents </span></span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight:
normal">Running
time: 75 min.</span></span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight:
normal">Language:
English</span></span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><b>Lynn
Hershmann Leeson</b></span></font></font></span></font><font
color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight:
normal">
is a filmmaker and new media artist who has been awarded
the
Siemens-Medienkunstpreis award from the ZKM, Karlsruhe,
as well as
the Golden Nica Prize at the 1999 Ars Electronica.</span></span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight:
normal">----------</span></span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font>
<font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2"><b>Catalogue
available
at the gallery:</b></font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font
color="#1a1a1a"><i><span style="font-weight: normal">SEIZED.
Critical Art Ensemble & Institute for Applied
Autonomy.</span></i></font><font color="#1a1a1a"><span
style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">
Berlin 2009</span></span></font></font>
<br>
</font>
<font color="#1a1a1a" face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">Regine
Rapp und Christian de Lutz für <a
href="http://www.artlaboratory-berlin.org/">Art
Laboratory Berlin</a> (Hrsg.): </font></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font>
<font color="#1a1a1a" face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">44
p., color, text in English and German</font></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
</font><font color="#1a1a1a" face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"></font></font><font
face="Times New Roman"><br>
</font>
<font color="#1a1a1a" face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">9,00
EUR (Special price at Aksioma: 5,00 EUR)</font></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font>
<font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><font
color="#000000"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span
style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight:
normal">----------</span></span></font></font></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
</font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman"><br>
</font>
<font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2"><span
lang="en-GB"><b>Production:
</b></span><span lang="en-GB">Aksioma – Institute for
Contemporary
Art, Ljubljana, 2012</span></font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><u><a
href="http://www.aksioma.org/"><font style="font-size: 11pt"
size="2"><span lang="en-GB">www.aksioma.org</span></font></a></u></span></font><font
style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2"><span
lang="en-GB"> </span></font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2">Artistic
Director:
Janez Janša</font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2">Executive
Producer:
Marcela Okretič</font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2">Assistant
Production:
Sonja Grdina</font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2">Public
Relations:
Mojca Zupanič</font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2">Technical
Supervisor:
Valter Udovičić</font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2"><b><span
style="background: transparent">Thanks: </span></b><span
style="font-weight: normal"><span style="background:
transparent">Art
Laboratory Berlin</span></span></font><font face="Times New
Roman">
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font style="font-size: 11pt" face="Times New Roman" size="2"><i><b>The
programme
of Aksioma Institute is supported by the Ministry of
Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of
Slovenia and
the Municipality of Ljubljana.</b></i></font><font face="Times
New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><i><span style="background:
transparent">Sponsor:
Datacenter d.o.o.</span></i></font></font><font face="Times
New Roman">
<br>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"><font style="font-size:
11pt" size="2"><b>Contact:</b></font></font><font face="Times
New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><span lang="en-GB">Marcela
Okretič, 041 250 830, </span></font></font><font
color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="zxx"><u><a
href="mailto:aksioma4@siol.net"><font style="font-size:
11pt" size="2"><span lang="en-GB">aksioma4@siol.net</span></font></a></u></span></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><b>Aksioma
| Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana</b></font></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">Neubergerjeva
25, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia</font></font><font face="Times
New Roman">
<br>
</font><font color="#000081" face="Times New Roman"><font
style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font color="#000080"><span
lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.aksioma.org/"><span
lang="en-GB">www.aksioma.org</span></a></u></span></font></font></font><font
face="Times New Roman">
</font>
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