Disciplined and Punished

Still no word out on the grand jury deliberation into the bioterror investigation of artist Steve Kurtz, but another subpoena has been issued—to publishing company Autonomedia, which has published writings by Critical Arts Ensemble (of which Kurtz is a member), Michel Foucault, and Hakim Bey.

The FBI's certainly not going to find anything good in there. More writing from artists working in the biological warfare medium, some guy with some rather un-American ideas about sex, and Mr. Bey, who's going to wish he never advocated acts of cultural terrorism. In all seriousness, Bey is a massively important resource in the visual arts. On my bookshelf I have a catalogue that features a number of contemporary artists who are working from Bey's "temporary autonomous zone" concept, the results being the sort of thing you see with Steve Kurtz or al-Zarqawi or whoever. How much help the subpoena will be to the FBI is difficult to say since—like the artwork that's been confiscated—all this stuff has been public for some time.