seARTS Film Series - Tuesday, March 25th at 6:30 p.m.

In May 2004 Kurtz woke to find Hope, his wife and artistic partner, dead. He called 911. The police arrived, and noticing materials Kurtz was using to prepare an art installation on genetically modified food, called the FBI. The presence of harmless microbes resulted in the FBI suspecting Kurtz of bioterrorism and triggering an ongoing legal battle.

Lynn Hershman Leeson's film, Strange Culture, featuring Steve Kurtz and actors Tilda Swinton, Peter Coyote and Thomas Jay Ryan, is a fascinating work that defies categorization. She combines drama, documentary, and graphic novel elements to elegantly present a complex narrative. Kurtz's legal case is quite significant and has implications relating to freedom of speech and expression and academic freedom. The film also addresses art as protest and commentary, and the work artists are doing in the emerging area of art and science.

Directly following the film at the cinema will be a discussion with Montserrat College of Art’s Leonie Bradbury, Director/Curator of the Gallery & Visiting Artist Program, and Blyth Hazen, artist and Associate Professor of Art. Bradbury has curated exhibits on science and art at Montserrat including It's Alive: A Laboratory of Biotech Art, an investi-gation of the current intersections of biology, technology, and art. Hazen also works in this arena as well as new media. Her most recent work was a collaborative robotics project Tipping Point: Health Narratives from the South End. Also participating will be Gloucester resident Richard Rosenfeld, an essayist, commentator, past trustee of the Mass ACLU Foundation, and author of American Aurora, a book on an early chapter of first amendment history in the United States.

Latitude 43, the evening's featured sponsor, invites audience members who wish to continue the conversation to gather at the restaurant right after the post-film discussion (approx. 9pm).

seARTS’ Film Series is part of seARTS’ Community/Visitor Education Program funded in part by the John and Abigail Adams Art Program from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Latitude 43, a restaurant located in Gloucester, is the featured sponsor for the screening of Strange Culture. In addition to films, future events in the seARTS’ 2008 Education Series include Artists Salons on singers/songwriters, Art & Technology, Design, and Literature, Speaker Series with talks given by prominent artists on Cape Ann Art History, the Creative Economy, and Community Art.

Strange Culture will be shown Wednesday, April 30 at 6:30 pm followed by a discussion. Gloucester Cinema, 74 Essex St. (Rt. 133), Gloucester. Tel: 978-283-9188

Tickets are $7 for seARTS members; $12 for adults; and $9 for seniors and students. To purchase tickets online visit www.searts.org/programs.html or call (978) 281-1222.

Come hungry, the popcorn at Gloucester Cinema is the best and
the concession stand awaits you all!

The seARTS Speaker Series is part of a Community/Visitor Education Program is funded in part by the

John and Abigail Adams Art Program from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, with corporate support from featured sponsor Latatide 43