FOUR YEAR LEGAL BATTLE ENDS WITH SUBSTANTIAL DONATIONS TO CIVIL & HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS

Read the full press release >


DR. STEVEN KURTZ CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES!

Department of Justice Fails to Appeal Dismissal
Kurtz Speaks about Four-Year Ordeal

Read the full press release >

THANK YOU FROM STEVE KURTZ
Read letter to supporters here >


 

Language: Espanol | Français | Deutsch | Italian

What is this case about?

The issues here are fundamental: freedom of speech, freedom of expression and academic freedom. The case is precedent-setting, and will help determine whether anyone exercising their right to free speech can be criminalized merely for their ideas, in fundamental violation of the United States Constitution.

READ MORE >


UPDATE: October 24, 2009

+ Award-Winning Documentary about Steven Kurtz's Case Now on DVD - Proceeds benefit the CAE Trial Fund!

+ JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST!
We do not send many emails – only very occasional updates on important developments in the case and how you can help


FEATURED NEWS:

WBFO, October 12, 2009
Kurtz Finds a Stronger Voice Championing Free Speech

WBFO, April 23, 2008
Kurtz Hails Judge's Ruling a Victory for all Americans
(award-winning interview)

Democracy Now!, June 16 2008
Art in a Time of Terror: Acclaimed Art Professor Steve Kurtz on How He Became a “Bioterrorism” Suspect

Germ Warfare: How Artist Steve Kurtz Became the Target of Weapons of Mass Distortion
Buffalo Spree, July/August 2008
By Bruce Adams

Seized: Steve Kurtz and the Art of Dissent
ArtVoice, June 19, 2008
By Lucy Yau

The four-year fight for biological art
Nature, June 4, 2008

Strange Culture: Q&A with Lynn Hershman-Leeson, Steve Kurtz, & Lucia Sommer
Alternative Film Guide, March 31, 2008
By Andre Soares

Terrorizing the Artists in the USA
The Huffington Post, June 14, 2007
By Michael Simmons

Kurtz Case Provides View of Big Brother
The Buffalo News, February 27, 2008
By Donn Esmonde

Judge Questions Basis for Charges Against Art Professor
WBFO 01.29.08

Interview with Dr. Dianne Raeke Ferrell about her husband's plea deal
WBFO 10.29.07

Interview with Dr. Steve Kurtz
WBFO 09.07.2007

Supporters Say Artist's Prosecution is About Expression, Not Bioterrorism
The Huffington Post
By William Fisher

The artist on trial for owning a Petri dish [PDF]
The London Daily Telegraph
By Lynn Hershman Leeson

Strange Culture
The Nation
By Patricia J. Williams

Scientist tied to Kurtz case pleads guilty
Buffalo News
By Dan Herbeck

Artist says his prosecution is persecution
The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon
By Bob Keefer


FEATURED ESSAY: April 6th, 2005

Reflections on the Case by the U.S. Justice Department against Steven Kurtz and Robert Ferrell
by Claire Pentecost

Many people have asked us why the Justice Department is pursuing this case.

Meaning, when the Buffalo Health Department affirmed that there was nothing dangerous in the Kurtz home and that Hope Kurtz died of natural causes, when the FBI saw that the possession of scientific equipment and materials in Kurtz's home studio was completely consistent with his practice as an artist and that his practice has a long, public and institutionally validated record, then, why didn't they drop the case? When it became clear even through the Grand Jury investigation that this was not a case of bioterrorism, why did they pursue it? Couldn't they see that this is art?

Read the full essay

LECTURES by STEVE KURTZ & RELATED EVENTS

Professor Kurtz will be giving lectures and presenting work by Critical Art Ensemble in the coming months.

2008

July 16 - Aug 18
Hamburg, Germany
Summer on the Elbinsel Forum

Sept 16
New York, NY
NYU

(TBA)
San Francisco, CA
UC Berkeley & the
San Francisco Art Institute

Oct 1 - Nov 30
Perth, Australia
SymbioticA Art & Science Collaborative Research Laboratory
University of Western Australia

See Past Lectures


UPCOMING FUNDRAISERS

SCREENINGS OF STRANGE CULTURE


View Past Events

Contact us to set up an event in your area:
organize @ caedefensefund.org


Quote:

"I am absolutely astonished... based on what I have read and understand, Professor Kurtz has been working with totally innocuous organisms...
I am dismayed by what appears to me to be yet one more instance in which knowledgeable persons in the field of bioterrorism are not being brought in and consulted to ascertain what might be real problems and what are purely spurious problems."

D. A. Henderson, M.D., M.P.H.
Senior advisor of the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)

 

Add a web banner to your page!


Receive occasional updates on the case, and find out how you can help, by entering your email below and joining our Yahoo! Group mailing list.

Your e-mail address:

NOTE: You will receive an email within a few minutes asking you to confirm your email address. You must reply to this email in order to be added to the CAE Defense Fund email list. (Please check any Bulk Mail or Spam folders if you don’t see this email in your Inbox.)


CONTACT:

Media Inquiries: media@caedefensefund.org
Protest Inquiries: organize@caedefensefund.org

Please direct questions or comments to media@caedefensefund.org.