[spectre] ART IS NOT TERRORISM - PARIS 23 APRIL 2005

[Ewen Chardronnet]

ART IS NOT TERRORISM - PARIS - 23 APRIL 2005
http://www.caedefensefund.org

Benefit event for the defense of Steve Kurtz and the Critical Art Ensemble
At the occasion of the 10 years of the Association of Autonomous Astronauts

23 APRIL 2005
FESTIVAL AVRIL *3
CONFLUENCES
190, Boulevard de Charonne
75020 PARIS
Metros Alexandre Dumas or Philippe Auguste
http://www.confluences.net/avril

Participation : 6 euros (to the benefit of the CAE defense fund)
http://www.caedefensefund.org
Donations (to the benefit of the CAE defense fund) : cheques to 
establish in the name of ELLIPSE ; send to Ellipse, Mact, Place 
Plumereau, 37000 Tours, France.
info at e-ngo.org

Starting at 3pm : films, shop, debates, Djs

15H : « OPEN SKY », 20’, essay film by Ewen Chardronnet, Fr
A documentary film on Acoustic Space Lab initiative and the conversion 
of technologies from military to civilian purposes. With the RT32 
latvian radiotelescope exemple and the Makrolab project.
Leonardo Art Outsiders New Horizons Award 2003.

15H30 : « OTOLITH », 25’, essay film by The Otolith Group, UK
An essay film in the context of the Microgravity Interdisciplinary 
Research (MIR) Consortium.

16H : « THE YES MEN », 1h35, documentary film by Chris Smith, Sarah 
Price and Dan Ollman, USA
The Yes Men, a movie, follows a couple of anti-corporate 
activist-pranksters as they impersonate World Trade Organization 
spokesmen on TV and at business conferences around the world.

18H : Film and discussion at the occasion of the 10 years anniversary of 
the Association of Autonomous Astronauts (AAA)
with : Jason Skeet (UK), Neil Star (UK), Kodwo Eshun (UK), Riccardo 
Balli (Ita), James Becht (Fr), Ewen Chardronnet (Fr) and many others.

19H30 : musical pause and refreshments

20H30 : Presentation of the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) case
With Claire Pentecost (USA)
Traduction-moderation : Brian Holmes

UPDATE: April 11th, 2005
New Federal Grand Jury Convening This Month
On March 17th, Steven Barnes, a founding member of the Critical Art 
Ensemble, was served a subpoena to appear before a Federal Grand Jury in 
Buffalo on April 19th. According to the subpoena, the FBI is once again 
seeking charges under Section 175 of the US Biological Weapons 
Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, as expanded by the USA PATRIOT Act - charges 
which a previous Grand Jury appeared to reject last summer when they 
handed down indictments of mail and wire fraud.
http://www.caedefensefund.org

21H30 : debate « Technophilia-technophobia : mapping the dissemination »
With Claire Pentecost (CAE, USA), Brian Holmes (Fr, USA), Nicola 
Triscott (The Arts Catalyst, UK), Anjali Sagar (The Otolith Group, UK), 
Kodwo Eshun (The Otolith Group, UK), Michel Valensi (Editions de 
L’Eclat, Fr), Bureau D’Etudes (Fr), AAA, and many others.

23H - … : AAA Djs to Rave in Space
Aphasic (Ambush, UK), DJ Balli (Sonic Belligeranza, Ita), Kodwo Eshun 
(UK), Red Shift (Fr), Neil Star (UK), Makronaut (Fr), Eibär (Fr), etc.

Organised with the CAE defense fund, the AAA, Ellipse and Confluences.
[ http://www.critical-art.net ]
[ http://caedefensefund.org ]
[ http://www.lyber-eclat.net ]
[ http://acoustic.space.re-lab.net ]
[ http://www.u-tangente.org ]
[ http://www.artscatalyst.org ]
[ http://www.theyesmen.org ]
[ http://www.rezofilms.com ]
[ http://e-ngo.org ]
[ http://www.confluences.net/avril ]

----

April 13, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: mailto:auction at caedefensefund.org

MASSIVE ART AUCTION WILL SUPPORT INDICTED ARTIST
STEVEN KURTZ AS BIOTERRORISM CHARGE THREAT RETURNS
More benefits and donations needed

An April 17 benefit auction at Paula Cooper Gallery in
NYC has attracted donations from some of the biggest names in
the contemporary art world, including Hans Haacke, Richard
Serra, Cindy Sherman, Martha Rosler, Sol LeWitt, Ruben
Ortiz Torres, Kiki Smith, Lorna Simpson, Chris Burden,
and many others. (See details at bottom or at
http://www.caedefensefund.org/auction/PaulaCooperGallery.html.)

Organizers of this Sunday's auction expect to raise at
least a six-figure sum to help artist Steven Kurtz and
scientist Robert Ferrell defend themselves against
politically-motivated federal charges of mail and wire
fraud--and, it now seems likely, bioterrorism charges
as well.

If convicted of the wire and mail fraud charges,
Kurtz, a founding member of the Critical Art Ensemble
(CAE) and Professor of Art at the University of
Buffalo, and Ferrell, a Professor of Human Genetics at
the University of Pittsburgh, could face up to 20
years in prison.

But worse is possible. On March 17, Steven Barnes,
also a founding member of the Critical Art Ensemble,
was served a subpoena to appear before a Federal Grand
Jury in Buffalo on April 19. According to the
subpoena, the FBI is once again seeking charges under
Section 175 of the US Biological Weapons
Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, as expanded by
the USA PATRIOT Act--charges which a previous Grand
Jury appeared to reject when they handed down
indictments of mail and wire fraud last summer. (See
http://www.caedefensefund.org for full details.)

The addition of bioterrorism charges will add to the
heavy financial and emotional burden of the
defendants. But the rising cost to taxpayers is
significant too. Although the New York State
Department of Health quickly deemed that the materials
used by Kurtz in his art posed no threat to public
health or safety, and the FBI's own field and
laboratory tests showed that they were not used for
any illegal purpose, the U.S. District Attorney
continues to waste vast sums of public money
prosecuting this outlandish, politically motivated
case.

Since June 2004, public events in support of the CAE
Defense Fund in the US, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Latin
America and Australia, as well as thousands of
individual contributions, have met the rising defense
costs. But as the case moves to trial, Kurtz and
Ferrell's expenses will increase dramatically, and
more fundraisers and donations will be needed. The
April 17 auction organizers hope the auction will serve
as a spur for people worldwide to organize new benefit
events and contribute to the fund. Please visit
http://caedefensefund.org for more information about
how you can help publicize this auction, organize your
own event, donate funds, or otherwise help support
Kurtz and Ferrell in this exceedingly important case
that could widely impact freedom of expression and
more in the US.

AUCTION DETAILS:

When: Sunday, April 17, 2005 (viewing and silent
auction 2-8pm, live auction 5-7pm)

Where: Paula Cooper Gallery, 521 West 21st Street, NYC
10011, tel: 212-255-1105 / day of auction:
212-255-5247

Master of Ceremonies: Wallace Shawn

Artists who have donated work: Acconci Studio, Dennis
Adams, Carl Andre, The Atlas Group, Nayland Blake, Mel
Bochner, Cecily Brown, Chris Burden, Paul Chan, Jeremy
Deller, Mark Dion, Sam Durant, Tony Feher, Andrea
Fraser, Joseph Grigely, Hans Haacke, Ann Hamilton,
Rachel Harrison, Emily Jacir, Mike Kelley, Barbara
Kruger, William Pope L., Louise Lawler, Zoe Leonard, Sol LeWitt, Glenn
Ligon, Sharon Lockhart, Brice Marden, Allan McCollum,
Julie Mehretu, Arnold Mesches, Donald Moffett, Dave
Muller, Vik Muniz, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara,
Cathy Opie, RubÎn Ortiz Torres, Laura Owens, David
Reed, Alexis Rockman, Martha Rosler, Christy Rupp,
Carolee Schneemann, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Amy
Sillman, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, Janaina Tschape,
and many more.

To view some of the donated art works, please visit:
http://www.caedefensefund.org/auction/PaulaCooperGallery.html

This benefit is sponsored by the National Association
of Artists' Organizations (NAAO) and Hallwalls
Contemporary Arts Center (Buffalo), and is supported
by galleries across the US.

For more information please contact Lori at Paula
Cooper Gallery, or visit http://caedefensefund.org.
Press inquiries may be directed to
mailto:auction at caedefensefund.org.