June 25, 2004 — PRESS RELEASE —
AUTONOMEDIA SUBPOENAED IN CRITICAL ART ENSEMBLE “BIOTERRORISM” CASE
The Brooklyn, New York-based radical small press Autonomedia was subpoenaed this week in the ongoing grand jury investigation into performance artist, theorist and SUNY-Buffalo associate professor Steve Kurtz, a member of the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE). An all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, Autonomedia has since 1983 published or distributed over four hundred titles in radical media, arts, politics and literature. The CAE collective has published five books with Autonomedia on topics related to contestational biology, the history and possible futures of eugenics and genetic engineering, and on the art and politics of new media and information technologies.
Kurtz summoned emergency medical services in Buffalo, New York the night of May 11 for his wife, Hope, who has been found subsequently to have died of natural causes. When emergency workers found Kurtz’ home chemical lab and library related to his research, they summoned the FBI. State officials later determined that no substances found in the Kurtz home posed any threat to public health.
But beginning June 15, other members of the CAE, SUNY-Buffalo professors and Kurtz students have been called before a grand jury which is believed to be investigating possible violations of the U.S. Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act, as modified under the USA PATRIOT Act. Most of those previously subpoenaed have refused to appear, citing Constitutional safeguards against self-incrimination, and have called the continuing investigation irrational and politically motivated.
The Autonomedia subpoena is for all documents and records related to Kurtz and the CAE. Lawyers advising Autonomedia agree that a Fifth Amendment-based refusal to comply may be difficult in this instance. Autonomedia publisher Jim Fleming said Friday that no decision has yet been made about Autonomedia’s immediate course of action. “Bookstores and librarians across America have recently mounted defenses of their patrons’ right to privacy from government scrutiny, and media companies often refuse to divulge sources and privileged information. We have no incriminating documents of any kind, but we continue to examine our options. Our chief aim is to demonstrate our solidarity with Kurtz and other innocent parties under investigation, support them in the immediate case, and resist the long-term potentials regarding the ‘chilling effect’ of alleged ‘thought crimes’.”
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