STEVEN KURTZ
In this keynote talk, Steven Kurtz presented the art and science work of Critical Art Ensemble as a backdrop for the argument that cultural practices that intersect with scientific production have numerous barriers and limits that are generally too difficult to overcome.

Cultural practitioners rarely carry out scientific work in any proper sense. Instead they are taking elements of knowledge, process, and materials that are typically associated with science to create an emergent media that can better address their cultural, social, and political concerns than can the variety of traditional media available to them.

Steven Kurtz is a founding member of Critical Art Ensemble (CAE). CAE is a collective of five tactical media practitioners of various specializations, including computer graphics and web design, wetware, film/video, photography, text art, book art, and performance. Formed in Florida in 1987, CAE’s focus has been on the exploration of the intersections between art, critical theory, technology, and political activism. The collective has performed and produced a wide variety of projects for an international audience at diverse venues ranging from the street, to the museum, to the Internet. Critical Art Ensemble has also written five books: Their most recent The Molecular Invasion (Autonomedia, 2002). Kurtz holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Humanities, and is currently an Associate Professor of Fine Art at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

 

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