Strange Culture @ NEWare


From NWN:
"The Stanford Humanities Lab presents an independent film by Lynn Hershman entitled 'Strange Culture.'"

The film describes the US government's investigation and prosecution of artist and professor Steve Kurtz as a suspected terrorist. The screening will be simulcast in at the Sundance Film Festival and streaming in-world with a Q&A with Lynn Hershman afterwards.<-- So THEY were watching US. They kept calling us "avatars." :(

From the Wikipedia:
"Kurtz first aroused the suspicion of authorities in May 2004 when he called 911 to report the death of his wife Hope Kurtz by heart failure. For his creation of art installations he regularly worked with biological specimens and had a diverse array of scientific instruments scattered about his house. Local law enforcement became wary of Kurtz' intentions, and notified the FBI who detained Kurtz without charge under terrorism legislation and sealed off the block around his house.

His detention was deemed to be illegal the next day, although dozens of agents in hazardous material suits sifted through his work and impounded many of his possessions as well as his dead wife.

In July 2004 a grand jury rejected any "terrorism" charges, but Kurtz is still charged with federal criminal mail and wire fraud (charges frequently used against political dissidents such as Marcus Garvey) and faces 20 years in jail. Legal observers note that this is a precedent-setting case with far-reaching implications involving the criminalization of speech and expression for artists, scientists, researchers, and others. In October 2005 charges were still pending.

Kurtz is an associate professor of art at the University at Buffalo, a state university in Buffalo, New York."

Lys said: "We are breaking new ground with this event. I have worked to make everything as solid as I can, but the fact remains that getting on stage at Sundance with all this new technology feels a little like getting up there with a monkey - unforeseen events are more than likely to occur :)"