Radical media, politics and culture.

A Conversation with the Critical Art Ensemble, March 4, 2005, New York City

"Attacking Academic Freedom in America:

A Conversation with the Critical Art Ensemble"
March 4, 2005, 7–8:30 pm

Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Graduate Center


Professor Ammiel Alcalay

talks with

Steve Kurtz and Rebecca Schneider.


Steve Kurtz is Associate Professor of Art at the University of Buffalo and one of the co-founders of the Critical Art Ensemble, a collective of artists dedicated to exploring the intersections between art, technology, radical politics and critical theory. Rebecca Schneider is a professor of performance studies at Brown and is representing the CAE Defense Fund. Ammiel Alcalay is a professor of Comparative Literature and Middle Eastern and Asian Languages at Queens College and the Graduate Center.On May 11, 2004 Kurtz awoke to find his wife dead. After emergency workers arrived, they discovered what they considered to be suspicious items and called in the FBI. Invoking the USA Patriot Act, which grants the federal government unprecedented search and-seizure powers, federal agents detained Kurtz for 22 hours; they searched his home for two days, as well as his office at SUNY-Buffalo, where he is a faculty member. The bureau confiscated his wife's body, his house, car, equipment, computer hard drive, books, writings, correspondence, art projects and other items, even his cat.


Kurtz's hearing has been set for March 1, 2005.

He currently faces charges totaling more than 20 years in prison.

$5. All proceeds from this event will be donated to the CAE Defense Fund.

For reservations, please call 212.817.8215.