Hence “terrorism” is not so much a thing or a state-of-being as it is a reflection of this necessary fiction, necessary, that is, to the art and practice of war. “Terrorism” is the act of creating terror, which of course is as likely to be carried out by a lawfully acting force dropping bombs on civilians, for example, as is it is by an unlawfully acting gang of religious extremists blowing up the Federal building in Oklahoma. The former get medals while the latter get the electric chair.

Michael Taussig

Early in the morning of May 11, 2004 Hope Kurtz, wife of artist and art professor Steve Kurtz, died in her sleep of cardiac arrest. Steve called 911 and emergency assistance arrived promptly. Soon after entering the Kurtz residence the police made a call to the FBI who later confiscated Steve’s art supplies, manuscripts, computer and even Hope’s body under suspicion of bio-terrorism related activities. Initially the incident was thought to be a mistake, with FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force officials assuming that the biological agents in Kurtz’s possession were intended for violent means. The materials were actually part of an art work about genetically-modified foods. I do not find it difficult to imagine an FBI agent lacking a solid grasp on the intricacies of situationist art works, it’s hardly a genre that is broadly understood or even appreciated. But the timing and events were certainly tragic for Kurtz, who was illegally detained the morning of his wife’s death and has been living with the threat of Federal prison ever since.

One could understand a bit of hysteria on the part of the FBI until a full explanation of the situation was found, but unfortunately this hysteria does not appear to be subsiding. One of Kurtz’s projects was a mobile lab that tested food for genetic modification. It was completely legal and the organisms he possessed were harmless bacteria that can be acquired by any amateur student of biology. He’s going to court and faces 20 years in federal prison nonetheless. Could the FBI be simply trying to “save face” here by not wanting to admit a gross misunderstanding of Kurtz’s work, or is it fair to assume there may be some serious suppression of dissident politics going on? Perhaps a look into the work of the Critical Art Ensemble, an art collective of which Kurtz is a member, could help illuminate the motives involved.

“Those familiar with CAE’s modeling of ECD [ Electronic Civil Disobedience ] know that it was an inversion of the model of civil disobedience (CD). Rather than attempting to create a mass movement of public objectors, CAE suggested a decentralized flow of particularized microorganizations (cells) that would produce multiple currents and trajectories to slow the velocity of capitalist political economy.”

from Civil Disobedience in the Public Sphere