M a r k D i l l e y

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PROTEST TO DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE END TO THE INVESTIGATION OF
STEVE KURTZ AND THE CRITICAL ART ENSEMBLE

WHEN: 9 AM, June 15, 2004

WHERE: Niagara Square, Buffalo, New York

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS CALL AS WIDELY AS YOU CAN.
Check http://caedefensefund.org/demonstration.html for updates.

For background, please visit http://caedefensefund.org/overview.html
and http://caedefensefund.org/press.html.
For PDFs of signs that you can print out, please visit
http://caedefensefund.org/demonstration.html#signs
For information on June 15 protests in Amsterdam, San Francisco,
London and Paris, please visit
http://caedefensefund.org/demonstration.html#world

SUPPORT FREE SPEECH AND FREEDOM OF KNOWLEDGE

Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) is a collective of internationally
recognized artists who work in public, educational, academic and art
contexts. For the past few years, their principal aim has been to help
the general public to understand biotechnology. By making scientific
research accessible to laypeople through participatory performance
experiences, CAE aims to demystify what is safe and clarify what is
dangerous about today's biotech industry.

CAE always undertake their work in a safe and considered way. The
materials they use are strictly non-hazardous, can be legally obtained
by anyone, and are commonly found in undergraduate-level biology labs.
For more on CAE's projects and the biological agents and equipment
they work with, please visit http://www.caedefensefund.org/.

A federal grand jury will convene on June 15 in Buffalo, New York, to
consider bioterrorism charges brought by the Joint Terrorism Task
Force against CAE member and University at Buffalo professor Steve
Kurtz. The grand jury is the latest installment in a bizarre
investigation in which members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force seem
to have mistaken CAE's latest art project for a biological weapons
laboratory.

According to the subpoenas served to at least seven artists, the
charges fall under Section 175 of the US Biological Weapons
Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, which has been expanded by the USA PATRIOT
Act to prohibit the possession of "any biological agent, toxin, or
delivery system" without the justification of "prophylactic,
protective, bona fide research, or other peaceful purpose"
(http://caedefensefund.org/faq.html#law). Those served with subpoenas
include two founding members of CAE (Steven Barnes, Dorian Burr,
Beverly Schlee), two artists who have collaborated with CAE (Beatriz
da Costa, Paul Vanouse), and at least two other artists.

Many worry that the case could set a dangerous precedent by silencing
a group of artists for work that stimulates vital public discussion.
Many feel that with this case and others, the government is wildly
overreaching its mandate to protect the public from terrorism.

"Groups like CAE stimulate the public debate that is necessary to a
healthy democracy," said Claire Pentecost, an artist who has
collaborated with CAE in the past. "This isn't a case of one artist
fighting for the freedom to express him or herself with images or
speech that some of the public might find offensive. This is a case of
a group of artists using performance to educate the public on issues
that affect all of us in our daily lives. The government's actions
suggest a criminalization of a citizen's right to acquire knowledge by
completely legal means. This goes to the very heart of democracy."

A number of other recent cases suggest that that the PATRIOT Act and
other recent "security" measures have made freedom of speech
increasingly fragile in the U.S. A list of such cases will be
available shortly at our website