Posted by Michael Shanks
Strange Culture - actors Tilda Swinton and Thomas Jay Ryan
On Monday 22 January and Wednesday 24 January our experimental facility in the online world Second Life will host the première of Lynn Hershman's new movie "Strange Culture" as part of the Sundance Film Festival.
In 2004 artist and college professor Steve Kurtz was preparing for a MASS MoCA exhibition that would let audiences test whether food has been genetically modified when, days before the opening, his wife tragically died of heart failure. Distraught, Kurtz called 911, but when medics arrived, they became suspicious of his art supplies and called the FBI. Dozens of agents in haz-mat suits sifted through his home and impounded his computers, books, cat, and even his wife's body. The government held Kurtz as a suspected bioterrorist, and, nearly three years later, the charges have not been dropped. He still faces up to 20 years in prison.
Because he is legally barred from comment, the movie uses actors as avatars to tell this story of contemporary art, science, politics and paranoia.
We have chosen to screen the movie on our island in Second Life because we are committed to exploring the intersections of the arts, humanities, science and technology, reaching out beyond the academy to address such matters of common concern.
Guests will include Lynn Hershman, Steven Kurtz and Howard Rheingold.
[Link - Sundance]
[Link - Lynn Hershman's site]
