Sunday, June 13, 2004

One week ago, from a tower in Roppongi.


Saturday, June 12, 2004


Art becomes the next suspect in America's 9/11 paranoia


On May 10 Steven Kurtz went to bed a married art professor. On May 11 he woke up a widower. By the afternoon he was under federal investigation for bioterrorism.
What began as a personal tragedy for Mr Kurtz has turned into what many believe is, at best, an overreaction prompted by 9/11 paranoia and, at worst, a politically motivated attempt to silence a radical artist. ...by Guardian Unlimited


The Critical Art Ensemble , which he is belong to, is a famous group in media art field. Nobody does think he is a bioterrorist. And it's obvious what he did is legal. Many artists has been explored the new field where biotechnology and art merged, and they has been criticized the scientists' shortsight. That may open the controversial issue to public from various points of view. On the other hand, I think it's true on some cases that the emerging biotechnology research by artist, but scientist, outside the specialized scientific laboratory is dangerous. But this issue is not such a kind of matter. In the United States, the definition of "terrorist" has expanded. That's the matter. In the definition, all artists, mean critical creative people, may be terrorists.

See more the detail Critical Art Ensemble defense fund

See an article about his DNA art project in Wired. http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,50830,00.html

クリティカル・アート・アンサンブルというおもに情報と政治、バイオテクノロジーの問題を扱っているアーティスト集団がいるのですが、そのなかの一人Steven Kurtzが先月10日に、バイオテロリズムの容疑でFBIに逮捕されました。メディアアートの世界では彼らの活動は有名で、作品には常に論議を呼ぶような仕掛けが組み込まれています。今回の事件は、逮捕されたアーティストの意図したことではなかったのだろうけど、大きな論議を呼んだということにおいては、もっとも効果のあった作品だとも言えなくもない。えっと、話をもどすと、これは米国が911以降、やっきになって取り締っているテロリストとは無関係なことは明らかです。しかし、米国は果たしてテロリストだけを取り締ろうとしているのかな? 「テロリスト」の定義がいつのまにか拡大してるんじゃないか、というのが問題です。

詳細は Critical Art Ensemble defense fund
。彼のDNAを扱った作品についてのHotWiredの記事はこちら http://hotwired.goo.ne.jp/news/news/culture/story/20020314205.html