Building a Critical Public for the Biotech Century

What: 8 short talks on bio-art, biotech, and bio-politics

When: Friday October 29, 2004 1-6 pm

Where: CAVS at MIT (N52-390) is located on the 3rd floor of 265 Massachusetts Avenue, next to the MIT Museum. For more info, call 617.452.2484 or http://web.mit.edu/cavs/

Who: Klare Allen, Gene Benson, Sujatha Byravan , Beatriz da Costa, Jonathan King, Eugene Thacker , Nato Thompson, Charles Weiner, Faith Wilding

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Background:
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This event developed out of a small-scale public discussion organized by 16Beaver Group in the weeks following the arrest of Steve Kurtz in May of this year.

As we have done in our short history as a space/group, we have often linked our work and interests with social, political, ethical questions. We have also more recently been attempting to create the framework for more rigorous or formalized discussion contexts, which can be in the format of lectures, workshops, or in this case modest sized symposium / teach-in.

The invitation to organize something more expansive around the questions raised by the CAE case came via Larissa Harris, Assistant Director at MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies. This event presents us with an opportunity to see the Kurtz arrest and CAE's work as a symptom of a larger set of longstanding and emerging biopolitical questions. The event is also our collective and negotitated attempt in using the resources in the Boston/MIT area and the loose network of people around or interested in CAE to help build an already developing discussion among artists, scientists, thinkers, and activists