Wednesday, March 4th was Brett Kashmere's Hella Hybrid talk, and although mid-terms and the coming spring break kept some away -- the talk was well worth hearing and seeing. Brett has made some interesting work and took on issues that have to do with copyright in really creative ways. Check out Brett's blogs and his website... and go see him whenever you get the chance to hear him speak or see his work first hand.
This week Bickford Visiting Artist Steve Kurtz.
Thursday, March 19 at 5 pm. Cinematheque Screening of Strange Culture.
Friday, March 20 at 2:30, Bickford Visiting Artist Talk by Steve Kurtz, the subject of the film Strange Culture.
Both events are in Aitken.
See below for further details.
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Also this week Printmaking Visiting Artist Benjy Davies.
Printmaking Department (VATe) Visiting Artist:
Benjy Davies
Wednesday, March 18
10 am
G209 (Gund)
Presentation of Work and Demonstration beginning at 10 am and continuing through the day
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Thursday, March 19
Food arrives at 4:15
Starting at 5 pm – Aitken Auditorium
Cinematheque SCREENING of
Strange Culture
Followed by a Q + A with Artist Steve Kurtz
Free to CIA and Case ID holders and $5 to general public.
(Proceeds benefit Cinematheque.)
The film examines the case of artist and professor Steve Kurtz, a member of the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE). The work of Kurtz and other CAE members dealt with genetically modified food and other issues of science and public policy. After his wife, Hope, died of heart failure, paramedics arrived and became suspicious when they noticed petri dishes and other scientific equipment related to Kurtz's art in his home. They summoned the FBI, who detained Kurtz within hours on suspicion of bioterrorism.
As Kurtz could not legally talk about the case, the film uses actors to interpret the story, as well as interviews with Kurtz and other figures involved in the case. Through a combination of dramatic reenactment, news footage, animation, and testimonials, the film scrutinizes post-9/11 paranoia and suggests that Kurtz was targeted because his work questions government policies. At the film's close, Kurtz and his long-time collaborator Dr. Robert Ferrell, former chair of the Genetics Department at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, await a trial date.
(update) As of late May 2008, the Buffalo Prosecutor has declined to reopen the case within the 30 day window in which he was allowed to do so. So, Steve Kurtz is free.
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Friday, March 20 - 2:30 pm
Aitken Auditorium
Food Arrives at 2:00 pm
Bickford Visiting Artist’s Talk
Steve Kurtz
Free and Open to the Public!
This lecture is a brief overview of the points where applied life sciences, politics, economy, and cultural representations begin to intersect. On the one hand, it will examine the economic and political pressures that push life science research in one direction at the expense of another, and the rhetorics used to justify these trajectories of research. On the other hand, it will also consider the release of derivative products into the public sphere, and how the public is socialized to accept them. These two moments, in which the cultural context for research initiatives or biotechnological products is in the first stage of construction, are the points of intervention where cultural activists can have the greatest impact. This presentation will be illustrated by participatory theater projects by Critical Art Ensemble.
Reception to Follow at Mi Pueblo.
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