May 22, 2006
Marching Plague: Germ Warfare and Global Public Health
Book Release + Anti-War Event
Please join us for a book launch and an evening of conversation concerning contemporary warfare: an anti-war event--Wednesday May 24, 2006 - 6:00-8:30 p.m.
Critical Art Ensemble present their latest book, Marching Plague: Germ Warfare and Global Public Health published by Autonomedia and coinciding with the inclusion of their film “Marching Plague” in the 2006 Whitney Biennial. This event is open to the public free of charge and will take place at Eyebeam, 540 W. 21st Street between 10th & 11th Aves.
The evening will include brief presentations by artists Gregg Bordowitz and Paul Chan and CAE Defense Fund representative Lucia Sommer. Films from Peggy Ahwesh, Lynn Hershman and the Yes Men, along with the Critcal Art Ensemble's film "Marching Plague", produced/commissioned by Arts Catalyst, will be screened on monitors throughout the evening.
Marching Plague examines the scientific evidence and the rhetoric surrounding biological warfare, particularly the development of anthrax and other bio-weapons, and makes a strong case against the likelihood of such weapons ever being used in a terrorist situation. Studying the history and science of such weapons, they conclude that for reasons of accuracy and potency, biological weapons lack the efficiency required to produce the widespread devastation typically associated with bioterrorism.
Why, then, the public urgency around biowarfare and why the channeling of enormous resources into research and development of tools to counter an imaginary threat? This is the real focus of Marching Plague: the deconstruction of an exceedingly complex political economy of fear, primarily supporting biowartech development and the militarization of the public sphere. The book addresses the following questions:
• Why is bioterrorism a failed military strategy?
• Why is it all but useless to terrorists?
• How have preparedness efforts been detrimental to public health policy?
• What institutions benefit from the cultivation of biofear?
• Why does the diplomatic community fail to confront this problem?
The book concludes with a brief examination of the actual crisis in global public health, arguing for the redirection of health research away from the military, and promoting a number of strategies for civilian-based preparedness and education.
Autonomedia books are distributed to the trade by SCB Distributors, AK Press Distribution, Small Press Distribution, Pluto Press in Europe and from Autonomedia directly.
Marching Plague and other Autonomedia titles will be available in the Eyebeam bookshop during the event.
EYEBEAM
Art & Technology Center
540 W. 21st Street
New York, NY 10011
T +1 212.937.6580 x222
F +1 212.937.6582
Location: 540 w 21st Street between 10th & 11th Avenues
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 12:00 - 6:00pm
Bookstore: Tuesday - Saturday, 12:00 - 6:00pm
Admission: All events are free to the public with a suggested donation unless noted
From Rhizome News:
The Politics of Fear
On May 11, 2004, activist artist Steve Kurtz of the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) awoke to find his wife Hope had died of cardiac arrest. He dialed 911, launching an Orwellian series of events in which the FBI arrested Kurtz and confiscated his artistic work and supplies, which they interpreted as bio-terrorist weapons and threatening propaganda. This included drafts of CAE's latest book, Marching Plague: Germ Warfare and Global Public Health, which has since been reconstructed and is now being published by Autonomedia. Concurrent with the screening of the Marching Plague video, at the Whitney Biennial, New York's Eyebeam is hosting a book launch on May 24th, at which the book will be discussed and other artists' films concerning the political and social fallout of bio-technological warfare will be screened. In the climate of scare tactics perpetuated by the Bush Administration since 9/11 and the anthrax scare in the 'War on Terror,' CAE's new book is a timely reference on the politics of fear and the rhetoric of the government's assertion that apocalypse awaits us all if we aren't prepared. - Randall Packer, Rhizome News.
Posted by jo at May 22, 2006 04:25 PM
