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THE INTER-SOCIETY FOR THE ELECTRONIC ARTS
THE ISEA NEWSLETTER
#47/48 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995
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Editors: Dirk Boon, Wim van der Plas (Holland). Correspondents: Yoshiyuki
Abe (Japan), Ray Archee (Australia), Peter Beyls (Belgium), Leslie Bishko
(US/Canada), Paul Brown (Australia), Annick Bureaud (France), Jurgen Claus
(Germany), James Faure Walker (UK), Roger Malina (US), Rejane Spitz
(Brazil).
Lay-out: Rene Pare (Grafico de Poost). Text editors: Ray Archee, Seth
Shostak. Honorary Member: Herbert W. Franke
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ISEA, POB 8656, 3009 AR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Tel/fax 31-10-4778605,
Email: ISEA@MBR.FRG.EUR.NL (Board) or ISEA@SARA.NL (Newsletter)
WWW URL http://www.xs4all.nl/~isea
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CONTENTS
EDITORIAL . IN DEPTH . CONFERENCES & SYMPOSIA . CD-ROMS . EXHIBITIONS .
FESTIVALS . CONCERTS . WEB . PUBLICATIONS . CALLS FOR PARTICIPATION
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EDITORIAL
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BOARD ELECTIONS
The Board of the Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts is elected by
its members once every three years. The present board, in place since
November, 1992 consists of:
Theo Hesper (Chair)
Wim van der Plas (Secretary-Treasurer)
Peter Beyls
Martha Hesper
Simon Penny
Roman Verostko
Both new candidates and current board members wishing to stand again must
make known their availability before December 15, 1995. They should do so
via e-mail, fax or ordinary mail (applications must be received by
December 10). Only regular, institutional, student and working members of
ISEA are eligible for the Board. All applicants should include a very
short resume (5 lines of text).
The candidates will be announced in the next ISEA Newsletter, after
which all regular, institutional, student and working members will have
the opportunity to vote.
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ISEA-UK
We are very happy to announce that James Faure Walker has started ISEA-UK, a
new branch of the Inter-Society. He will also serve as a correspondent for
the Newsletter. There is a long contribution from his hand in this edition,
dealing with ISEA95 in Montreal. UK organizers and artists should put his
address on their mailing lists. Anyone with plans that might be of interest
to ISEA-UK should get in touch with James. These are his particulars:
ISEA-UK, c/o James Faure Walker, 88 Greenwood Rd, London E8 1NE, UK
Tel: 44-171-249-7454 or 5932, E-mail: 100666.2570@compuserve.com
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ISEA96
Some changes have been made in the preparations for ISEA96, to be
held September 16-20 in Rotterdam, Holland. The organization is now in
the hands of a new 'Foundation ISEA96', founded by ISEA-NL, the V2
Organization, and Paradox (a sister foundation of Perspektief
Magazine). Cooperation with DEAF96, R96, the Rotterdam Regional
College and all other parties mentioned in the first version of the
Call for Participation will continue as planned. However, the changes
have caused some delay. Among others is the air mailing of the Call
for Papers & Participation. This delay made it necessary to postpone
the deadlines for entries until February 1, 1996. Also, the address,
phone and fax numbers mentioned in the first version of the Call
should not be used. The latter are now the same as the Inter-Society
address, viz:
ISEA96, POB 8656, 3009 AR Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Tel/Fax: 31-10-4778605, E-mail: isea96@ext.eur.nl or isea96@hro.nl.
The Call can be found at our Web sites:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~isea
http://www.eur.nl/ISEA96
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INL #45
Due to a mistake in distribution, a number of non-email members never
received a hard-copy version of ISEA Newsletter #45. Unfortunately,
we have no way of knowing which members did or did not receive this
issue. If you are among those who did not receive Newsletter #45 and
still wish a copy, please contact us.
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IN DEPTH
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ISEA95 REVISITED
James Faure Walker
This is a ("slightly unedited") article James wrote for Mute, the
London based magazine we mentioned in an earlier Newsletter. The
original article, entitled 'The Outside Inside of Techno Art', has
two parts, the first half is on Siggraph '95. We reprint the second
half with kind permission of Mute. Check out their Website:
http://www.metamute.co.uk.
(editors)
"For the record," began Chea Prince, "I don`t do cyber-sex." He
preferred the traditional way. This September`s ISEA 95 took place in
Montreal and wasn`t short of cyber-sceptics. ISEA stands for the
Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts, and this was the sixth
symposium (the sequence began in `88 in Utrecht, then Groningen,
Sydney, Minneapolis, Helsinki, and next year Rotterdam). These
conferences and exhibitions are smaller than Siggraph - 1000 attended
ISEA Montreal - but more intense because of their focus on art,
music, science and philosophy. Each event has its flashpoint as the
debate turns a corner. Two years ago in Minneapolis Jan Hoet of
Documenta set things alight by rubbishing the 'art' on show. He
didn`t make much effort to come to terms with the 'electronic'
perspective, but his views set the tone - and he had a point. Chea
Prince is part of Public Domain, an Atlanta collective of artists who
recycle hardware discards back into the community. Preferring the
traditional to the virtual might have been heresy a while back, but
this year we were trying realism, coming to terms with the offline
world - what one cyberspace lexicon lists as "the Big Room".
Geert Lovink, Data-Dandy and veteran of Amsterdam`s Digital City,
showed underground film from Belgrade, and questioned our IKEA
culture of comfort, ideals without ideas, our techno-ambience,
mountain bikes, cool T-shirts, bright-colour backpacks, sloppy sports
clothes. At the Ars Electronica festival in Linz this year, the
conflict in Bosnia hadn`t even been mentioned. He was making a stab
at a connection. Derrick de Kerckhove, of the Toronto McLuhan
Program, spoke of electronic art moving from the homeopathic to the
mainstream. No need to circle the wagons. Time to think about where
we`re heading. David Rothenberg, composer and Wired contributor,
demonstrated the Korg Ethnic Sound Card, a medley of ready-to-wear
World Music. He listened with a beatific smile and wondered about the
ethics of that. Lev Manovich observed how rendering in virtual
reality is quantifiable, realism measurable in dollars, wire-frame
for the poor. Henry See, one of the ISEA95 team, mused that painting
uses cheap tools to make objects of value, state-of-the-art computing
uses expensive tools to make...
We weren`t all talking hard-headed realism. Mark Pesce, one of the
inventors of Virtual Reality Modelling Language, gave an impassioned
talk on the web as the collective evolution of consciousness, as the
noosphere, as the gateway to the Sacred Time. There`s a new category
emerging, a mix of San Francisco research labs and New Age. Watch out
for shows called 'Sacred Art'. I sat through a flawless dance piece
by Montanaro Dance with nice interactive effects. But something in me
just doesn`t respond when I`m asked to drink deep at the Well of
Being. It`s like another multimedia card: Stonehenge morphing to
Parthenon, Gregorian chant to bamboo flute, Canterbury Cathedral to
Taj Mahal, Ellis Island to Holocaust. Birth, life, death, the
universe, all in one package, and no laughs. Spiritual revelation or
spiritual tourism, what a relief to peer in at the gyrating dancers
at a live TV disco down the road.
The most technically advanced piece on show was Char Davies` Osmose
at the contemporary museum, a heavily booked VR show - 20 minutes of
immersion. It is the product of years of research at Softimage in
Montreal, where she is Director of Visual Research. Navigation was
modelled on diving, so if you breathed in you floated up, and if you
breathed out you dropped down - you could also tilt this way and
that. You begin in a gridded 'Cartesian' space and descend to a
gossamer woodland scene: a tree, roots, oak leaves, puffs of light
tracking past; sinking down through the roots you reach the marching
text of program code - the best part - and falling through that you
find you`re once again above the woodland glade. The spectators
watching your 'experience' through red/green glasses actually get a
better view, but viewing several explorations doesn`t build much on
the initial impression. Like cruder installations with their incense
and smoke machines, their virtual aquariums, bacteria, forests,
birdsong, their Marienbad scores, there`s a Green romanticism wafting
through, a yearning for the innocence of the great outdoors. It`s
more mood music than symphonic rapture.
Liszt was into the transcendental, and spoke of his music as casting
a lance into the future, and as a fan of his I don`t want to say you
can`t orchestrate a spiritual experience. The developmental drive of
VR leads to the Disney idea that you make the imaginary so 'real'
that you don`t need to imagine it, you just walk through it. Up to
now art has done this job best when it has avoided the literal - hi-
res (the later Pre-Raphaelites) gave the spiritual too much detail.
It`s a tough question, what you do with the illusionism of VR, and
perhaps 'visionary space' is again the default metaphor. Osmose was
a decent pioneering effort. I`d also like to see what an animator
with a much zanier imagination - Beriou, say, of Table d`amour -
could do in the genre. For Mark Pesce Osmose meant the Real Thing,
the healing of the human/nature dichotomy. He was in tune with the
credo. I wasn`t. Seeing the VR scenario explained so fancifully after
the experience rather undid things. There`s a presumption that our
souls are out of joint and a dip into VR puts them back in shape -
well exclude children, those who can`t pay the admission, and the
bearded woodsmen. Would VR become the substitute walk in the mugger-
less park, high mass in Notre Dame? Again the issue was about turning
away from the 'outer' world. As Pesce`s talk rounded off in the
cyber-ether, Simon Penny (who makes precarious robots and edits
critical texts) leapt to his feet: "that pop techno-spiritualism may
fly in San Francisco, but come on!" How could being tethered to a
machine be described as liberating? It was more like bondage.
That was the flashpoint this year. Pesce and others could be on the
right track, but it might mean a convergence between corporation and
techno-church. Daniel Langlois, founder of Softimage, argued that his
alliance with Microsoft opened the prospect for making next year`s
Digital Studio software much more accessible, i.e. on PCs and not
just SGIs. He also spoke of research cul de sacs. The main exhibition
was in the Ecole Cherrier, a vacant school. These shows are juried
but not curated, and that means they tend to be untidy - but that
again is part of the point. Who knows the cul de sacs? A half-formed
work by a student could say more about the way things are going than
a professionalised installation. The tour de force in that category
was the Vorn/Demers` Frenchman Lake, a room of grunting, smoking,
flashing interacting 'robots' thrusting up and down in oil drums.
More restrained and economical was Bosch/Simons` Krachtgever, 28
wooden crates in 4 rows linked by springs, programmed to shake around
in ever-changing permutations. The simplicity of this worked well, so
it was hard to believe there wasn`t some will - or spirit - behind
the changes of mood. Altogether there were fifty exhibits here*, most
of them being dark rooms with some kind of 'interaction'.
Watching the public go round illustrated two things: first the
difficulty of making the point of the interaction clear. People scour
about but just find an opaque artist`s statement, and move things
about to experiment whether they`re supposed to or not. For most
projected videos the mix and match devices - mouse or touch screen -
are really gimmicks, and the videos would run just as well without
the baffled spectators messing them up. Just as with most books you
start at the beginning, and work through, flitting from page to page
gets frustrating after a while. Spectators prefer to be rewarded. In
Bruce Evans Flora Floor a dark glassy surface on the floor only
comes to life when you take off your shoes and walk over the rocks
and plants that appear below you - a hologram. The second point is
just a note of concern. It`s simply that there`s now an appetite for
art that 'does things' - sculptures that answer back, things that
follow you around - as though at last this Sunday audience can stop
pretending to enjoy art and can really have 'fun'. There`s the
highbrow debate at ISEA about opening up the art interface to
'emerging' senses. Fine. But I don`t think people have thought
through the consequences of galleries as - slightly pretentious -
fairgrounds. It`s great to see the laughter and enjoyment when the
Krachtgever starts getting angry. With another longer running
exhibition, Images du Futur, l`art interactif, attached to a cyber-
cafe I`m not so sure. Prompting the exhibits to do their thing in the
twilight may have as much to do with 'art experience' as the internet
salad has to do with modems. Perhaps that doesn`t matter. This
February I saw an Arts Council 'cutting edge' painting show in
Newcastle that was just unbelievable - recycled grey on grey
minimalism, the theorising as dumb as the visuals. If art is about
cliches and playing the game, then maybe it`s time to switch
experiences.
The great strength of ISEA is that it provides a home for the
experimental. It`s not a trade show like Siggraph, and it`s not an
artworld event. No cash prizes, pavilions, pampered egos. It all runs
on the energy of artists, theorists, volunteers. Bruce Sterling,
author of The Hacker Crackdown, announced his Dead Media project, a
catalogue of extinct inventions. He loved his 'Powerbook', but with
the pressure to upgrade, it had the life-span of a hamster. ISEA
provides open house to the offbeat. Where else could you come across
an outdoor interactive installation by a practising psychiatrist; a
composer and a geneticist converting the DNA code of liver cells,
botulism and the common cold into tone poems; haute cuisine recipes
compiled by artificial intelligence; an artist - the incomparable
Stelarc - giving a talk with his arm twirled round by programmed
muscle stimulators?
*It`s interesting how relatively prominent Australia and Canada are
in this field. If you average out ISEA shows over the past three
years (that excludes Sydney 1992) the proportions of exhibitors work
out as USA 39%, Canada and Australia each 14%, Germany 7%, Japan 6%,
UK 4%.
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CONFERENCES & SYMPOSIA
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INTERFACING REALITIES
DEAF Symposium, November 24 - 25 1995, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Organized by V2 Organisation and ISEA-NL. (ISEA-NL organized the
second day). On the first day, lectures and discussions deal with the
way in which human perception and notions of reality are changing
under the influence of computer technology. The role of human-machine
interfaces in this development is investigated, and we will try to
formulate a critique that points to insufficiencies and the
requirements of modern interface design.
The second day includes a series of presentations of recent
developments in the research of human-machine interfaces, probing the
terrain between the practical, the possible, and the not-yet-
possible. Special attention is given to the theme of computer and
robotic agents, and to interface design on the World Wide Web.
Program
Friday, November 24, 1995 (10.00-19.00 hrs)
Chair: Jose van Dijck (NL)
Thomas S. Ray (USA/J): Life in the Machine: we can interface to it,
but will it be interested in us?
Gottfried Mayer-Kress (USA): How can we tell if we are part of a
Global Brain?
Timothy Druckrey (USA): Nervous Systems: Surfing for Salvation
Marcos Novak (USA): transArchitecture: Transmitting the Spaces of
Consciousness
Siegfried Zielinski (D): Interface/recoupment/subject - Thinking the
boundary, making it flexible, keeping it experiential
Saturday, November 25, 1995 (10.00-18.00 hrs)
Chair: Wim van der Plas (NL)
Morning: 'Agents'
Peter Beyls (B): Introducing Agents
Michael B. Johnson (USA): Agents in Animation
Dave Cliff (UK): Robotic Agents
Afternoon: 'Interfacing the Web'
Mark Pesce (USA): Interface to the Sublime
Stacey Spiegel (CND): Vision in Motion
Panel with all speakers: Agents on the Web
Info:
V2 Organisation, Eendrachtsstr. 10, 3012 XL Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Tel: 31-10-4046427, Fax: 4128562, E-mail: deaf@v2.nl
or: ISEA-NL, Tel/Fax: 31-10-4778605, E-mail: isea@mbr.frg.eur.nl
URL: http://www.vpro.nl/www/arteria/V2onW3/Icons/V2Page.html
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DIGITAL AESTHETICS ONE
Werner Hammerstingl
Wickedly Intellectual, Tragically Relevant, Wickedly Intellectual,
Tragically ..
The digital revolution has filtered into every aspect of our
existence. The International Symposium "Digital Aesthetics One" is an
opportunity to participate in a debate investigating the position of
aesthetics with the realm of digital creation and consumption.
"Digital Aesthetics One" will examine the position of all human
senses in a post-analog context.
The terms of reference for this symposium are wide. They include
issues ranging from conception through to assimilation of a digitally
created aesthetic experience. The symposium is both a stocktake and a
forum for debating anticipated scenarios.
Confirmed speakers:
Shiralee Saul, New Media Network, Melbourne, Australia
Zbigniew Karkowski, Digital sound/performance artist,Tokyo, Japan
Dr. Rachel Armstrong, OCC Multimedia, London, U.K.
McKenzie Wark, University of Newcastle, Australia
Stelarc, Artist in residence at C.Theory, Melbourne, Australia
Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, University of Concordia, Canada
Jane Goodall, University of Western Sydney, Australia
John Conomos, University of N.S.W., Australia
Allucquere Rosanne Stone, University of Texas, U.S.A.
The conference is to be hosted by the Melbourne based C.A.T.
(Contemporary Art and Technology) group. C.A.T. has already hosted
the "Still Photography?" International Symposium during 1994 and is
involved in a range of publishing and exhibition projects which
examine the transition from analog to digital in the creative realm.
April 9-13, 1996.
The College of Fine Arts, University of N.S.W., Sydney, Australia
Full Registration (4 days) $A 350.- (Early Registration Discount,
payment prior to Feb. 28th 1996), Students (concession) $A 150.-
For more info. please contact:
Werner Hammerstingl, Convener, President, C.A.T.
P.O. Box 1545 P, G.P.O. Melbourne 3001 Australia.
Tel/Fax: 61-3-7281162, E-mail: cat@netspace.net.au
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THE AUSTRALIAN INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY ACCESS CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION
will be the first major event in Australia to focus solely
on the phenomenon known as the Information Superhighway. The
Conference's aim is to bring together a range of experts in order to
dispel confusion over the current state of the Superhighway, and to
explain what we can expect in the near future. The audience for the
Conference will include marketers, public relations professionals,
information specialists, educators, business folk and the general
public. The related Exhibition will also serve as a showcase for
network products and related services. Keynote speakers will include
Mark Pesce and Professor Ann Hill Duin.
Mark Pesce is best-known as a central coordinator of the Virtual
Reality Modeling Language. (VRML is a language for describing multi-
participant interactive simulations - virtual worlds networked via the
global Internet and hyperlinked with the World Wide Web. All aspects
of virtual worlds: display, interaction and internetworking can be
specified using VRML. It is the intention of its designers that VRML
become the standard language for interactive simulation within the
World Wide Web.) VRML has recently been ratified as an Internet
standard and will allow WWW users to download whole 3D worlds which
can be walked through, clicked on and linked to other worlds, video,
sound and graphics. Thus VRML may in fact become the de-facto standard
interface for the Information Superhighway. Mark is a also a
prodigious contributor to Wired magazine, and has a new book called
"VRML: Browsing and Building Cyberspace", soon to be released.
Dr Hill Duin is Associate Professor of Technical Communication at
University of Minnesota, USA where she directs MS, MA and PhD programs
in Rhetoric and Scientific and Technical Communication. Dr. Hill Duin
conducts research in the areas of computers and writing,
collaboration, desktop videoconferencing, distance education, and
document/multimedia design. With over 50 publications to her credit Dr
Hill Duin's latest research looks at the Internet and open learning.
She sees many possibilities of using the Superhighway for different
forms of education, training and socialisation which extend rather
than replace traditional practice.
******
Professional Marketing Services (PMS)is proud to announce another first
- the INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY VIRTUAL CONFERENCE USING
THE WORLD WIDE WEB. In order to reach the widest
possible audience PMS' Conference coordinator, Ray Archee has created
an online conferencing system which will enable hundreds of WWW users
to participate in this significant event from the comfort of their own
homes and offices. Members of the public who cannot attend the actual
Conference at Darling Harbour on Nov 16-18, 1995 will be able to
attend and particpate online from Nov 19-30 for the small attendance
fee of AU$50.
It is usual for ordinary computer conferences to attract a specialist
crowd who usually have to choose between sessions or who must limit
themselves to particular days. The Virtual Conference makes all
speakers available from anywhere in the world giving the event the
widest possible audience! Each virtual delegate will have access to
the all the papers and be able to make comments, ask questions and
discuss the finer points of each paper in detail.
The Virtual Conference may be accessed through the Information
Superhighway Access WWW home page:
http://www.ozemail.com.au/repmub/superhwy/ and will use the technology
to disseminate information from a bevy of experts from Australia and
overseas. These include Mark Pesce, an American virtual reality
expert, Prof Ann Hill Duin from the Uni of Minnesota and Prof Joan
Cooper (Uni of Wollongong). Other organisations represented include
Telstra, Vodaphone, and Oracle.
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CD-ROMS
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PUBLIC SHELTER
Jayne Loader
I'm writing to tell you about a project which I hope will intrique
you. It's JAYNE LOADER'S PUBLIC SHELTER, a CD-ROM inspired by my
film THE ATOMIC CAFE. The disc contains 45 minutes of video, 400
photographs, 18 original songs, 12 hours of audio, and 1200 text
files, all pertaining to atomic weapons and energy.
All of the documents in PUBLIC SHELTER are original artificts, most
of them recently declassified by the United States government. Some
of the most shocking deal with nuclear accidents, nuclear waste, and
government-sponsored radiation experiments on humans.
PUBLIC SHELTER extends the "found footage" concept to the CD-ROM
format. There is no top-down interface and no "script of God"
telling the user what to think or how the information in the disc
should be experienced or organized. All political points--and there
are many--are made through juxtaposition. This is one of the first
attempts by a independent filmmaker to extend the art of documentary
to the CD-ROM format.
PUBLIC SHELTER has been presented at the Museum of the Moving Image,
"The Atomic Age Opens" conference in Bowling Green, the San
Francisco Exploratorium, the New York Video Festival, "Living
Digital" on the Prodigy Network, Peace Action Texas, and the American
Bible Society multimedia symposium. Upcoming presentations include
Sundance, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, the Oasis
Theater, the Dallas Video Festival, the New South Wales Film and
Television Commission, the Pong Multimedia Festival, California State
University at Chico, and the International Documentary Conference in
Melbourne, Australia.
For more information, please e-mail me at ejl@netcom.com, or visit my
Website at http://www.publicshelter.com.
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EXHIBITIONS
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CODE SHOW
Cynthia B. Rubin
You are invited to view the CODE show, either in person or on the
Net. CODE is designed to initiate and sustain a platform between
Ricco/Maresca Gallery, artists, and the digital industry. All of the
works in the 1995 edition of CODE involve either animation,
interactivity or virtual immersive space. Subsequent editions of
CODE will explore the entire range of the digital art adventure.
Hard output, such as prints, CDs and video tapes of the works are
available from the gallery.
CODE represents a wide range of artists, from those working
individually on home computers to those who have the technical and
financial support of the digital industry. Creative activity
involving digital tools and processes in intimately linked to the
collaboration between artists and industry, and thrives when new
tools appear.
The show is curated by Roz Dimon.
The Artists:
OSMOSE
A virtual immersive space by Char Davies
INTERACTIVE WORKS
ad 319, Barminski/Consumer Productions, Khyal Braun/Jackie
Lightfield, Jean-Louis Boissier, Roz Dimon, Eric Lanz, Bill Seaman,
Annette Weintraub
INSTALLATIONS
Ben Rubin, Nina Sobell/Emily Hartzell, Regina Tierney
DIGITAL ANIMATION SCREENING ROOM
Ephraim Cohen R/GA, CB Cook, Clay Debevoise, Bob Hoffman R/GA, Michi
Itami, Wichar Jiempreecha R/GA, Jon McCormack, Picture Element,
Cynthia Beth Rubin, Kenneth Snelson, Regina Tierney
Continuing to December 2, 1995
Ricco/Maresca Gallery, 152 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10012, USA
Gallery Hours: 11-6 Tuesday through Saturday, phone 1- 212-7800071
On the NET:
http://artnetweb.com/artnetweb/gallery/code/home.html
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VIDEO BRASIL
November 10 - 26 1995, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Video installations by Carlos Nader, Projections and tapes by other
Brasilian video artists.
In the Melkweg, Lijnbaansgracht 234a, 1017 PH Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Tel: 31-20-6241777
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FOTO BIENNALE
November 3 - 26 1995, Enschede, The Netherlands
Including photographic installations, CD-ROMS, Web Sites, videoworks
and other multimedia projects. 40 Artists from 10 countries.
Lasondersingel 129, 7514 BP Enschede, Netherlands.
Tel: 31-53-432-5812, Fax: 7416, E-mail: fbe@knoware.nl
http://trimm.wirehub.nl/TriMM/fbe/
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THE NEIGHBOUR NEXT DOOR
December 15 - 22 1995, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
By Shimon Attie (US) and Mathias Maile (D).
On eight evenings, segments of original archive films will be shown
on the pavement of the Prinsengracht (## 468, 514 & 572) in
Amsterdam, near addresses that were used as hideouts during WWII.
The films picture the view had by those within the hideouts.
Info: Paradox, St. Jobsweg 30, 3024 EJ Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Tel: 31-10-476-5208, Fax: 9069, E-mail: paradox@knoware.nl
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TRANSAT VIDEO
October-December 1995, Normandy, France
Many locations in 12 different cities in Normandy.
Info and program (in French):
Brent Klinkum, Transat Video, 7, passage de la Poste, BP 59, 14203
Herouville Saint-Claire cedex, France. Tel: 33-31-955087, Fax: 953760
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VIDEO - SKULPTUR IN DEUTSCHLAND SEIT 1963,
November 4 - December 2 1995, The Hague, The Netherlands
Hours of opening: Monday through Saturday 9.00 - 18.00 hrs,
admission free.
Location exhibition: Atrium of the City-hall in the Hague.
Anna Anders, Claus Boehmler, Birgit Brenner, Klaus vom Bruch, Ingo Guenter,
Jean-Francois Guiton, Wolf Kahlen, Dieter Kiessling, Franziska Megert,
Marcel Odenbach, Nam June Paik, Ulrike Rosenbach, Reiner Ruthenbeck,
Jeffrey Shaw, Wolfgang Staehle, Wolf Vostell, Herbert Wentscher.
The World Wide Video Centre, the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations
Stuttgart, the Goethe-Institute Amsterdam and the foundation Atrium Den Haag
present the exhibition VIDEO - SKULPTUR IN DEUTSCHLAND SEIT 1963.
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COMPUTER-ROBOTIC PAINTINGS - "The Archons" Part 2
November 11 - December 7 1995, Paris, France
Galerie Multimedia, 18, Blvd Saint-Marcel, 75005 Paris, France
Through computer networks human beings are taking on a new sense of body
and spirit. In the wink of Bataille's pineal eye, humanity has begun to
redefine itself from the multiperspective point of view of imaginatory
cybernetic space.
This new perspective, this non-reality or virtuality, requires us to
question the legitemacy of our commonly held beliefs. This new perspective
returns art to myth and analogical thinking. It is as if the alchemical
concept of =E9gr=E9ore, a 3rd term that is established from 2 conjoining
different elements, has become the ruling concept in life as we continue to
create hybrids of ourselves and all that surrounds us. It is as if this
concept can now be seen to be, as they say, a virus, inside of everything
and everyone. It is time for Bataille's secret gnostic society to take over
the leadership in society. It is with this in mind that I paint now again,
using the most contemporary techniques available (computer-robotics) in a way
that could only be done at this juncture in time, a series of Gnostic
Archons. Just as the containment mentality of the Cold war is melting away,
and the Soviet - NATO nuclear standoff is dropping its gaurd, our universal
spiritual thinking must change. I believe Gnosticism to be an interesting
intellectual direction for us to go, with its cosmology of saturated spirits
and openmindedness and nonpossesiveness. This salvation through knowlege,
this fanciful doctrine, informs these paintings, coming as they do out of my
computer virus project.
To identify and explore some of the possible complex phenomena : (The
Virtual - The Gnostic - The Viral) characterizes the artistic impulses
which gave life to this exhibition with its call for a postdeconstruction
period of constructiveness through art in the heat of an overstimulated
techno-mediacratic society with its emphasis on symbolic monitary and sign
space. After the recent influx of 'deviant' and marginal areas of inquiry
in the humanities such as gender studies, queer theory, computer-based
cyberpunk speculations and mutant French theory; the absent center of
meaning and its hidden matrix of signification needs to be addressed. In
our age of technological domination, social inequity, and artisticly
expressed violence; Viral-Metaphysics constitutes the metaphor for our
time, with its references to obsession, drugs, sexuality, blood, and
high-technology. Perhaps it is time again to reflect on a return to the
lunar realm of the feminine within artistic and technological creative
activities.
Joseph Nechvatal
24, rue Norvins Paris 75018, France
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FESTIVALS
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WORLD WIDE VIDEO FESTIVAL 1996
Every year the World Wide Video Centre presents the World Wide Video
Festival, an international art event, presenting contemporary media art and
new technology. The 14th World Wide Video Festival, April 26 - 30 1996, will
focus on Video, CD-Rom and CD-i presentations, Installations, Interactive
works, Internet projects, Performances, lectures.
All selected productions will be shown publicly on a large screen, on
monitor or on computer, depending on the nature of the work.
The video, CD-Rom, and CD-i productions can also be viewed individually on
request. For this purpose a large number of viewing-sets and computers will
be available.
Many pieces will be presented and accompanied by introduction of the artists.
The main sites of the festival are: the Theater aan het Spui and the Haags
Gemeente Museum.
For more information about the 14th WORLD WIDE VIDEO FESTIVAL 1996 contact:
WORLD WIDE VIDEO CENTRE, Spui 189, 2511 BN Den Haag, The Netherlands
Tel: 31-70-3644805
Entry-forms of the 14th World Wide Video Festival 1996 will be available
from early January 1996 onwards.
Information about the World Wide Video festival on the World Wide Web will
be available January 1996.
A programme brochure will be available March 1996.
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CONCERTS
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CHAMP D'ACTION
November 22, 1995 - July, 1996, Antwerp, Belgium.
5 concerts of contemporary music. Several Locations. A.o. works by
Volker Staub and John Cage.
Info: Champ d'Action, Pastorijstraat 23, 2060 Antwerp, Belgium
Tel/Fax: 32-3-2725125
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WEB
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REALMS
Annette Weintraub
Realms is an interactive artwork for the World Wide Web which
explores the material and metaphysical resonance of urban landscape
evoked via linked images and text in a passage through subterranea,
the streets and rooftops.
Realms is a narrative of urban life, a journey through a complex
organism, a metaphor for different levels of consciousness. Embodied
in the labyrinth of subway passages, the pulsing energy of the
streets, and the altered perspective of the rooftop, the life of the
City is revealed in a series of small incidents unexpected
conjunctions. A meditation on the dynamics of urban space, Realms
takes you on a meandering journey, and presents encounters ranging
from the peculiar, to the unexpected to the sublime.
Realms is presented as part of CODE, an exhibition of digital,
interactive art the Ricco/Maresca Gallery in Soho from October 26-
December 2, 1995 and is a featured project on ArtNetWeb.
Connect to REALMS at:
http://artnetweb.com/artnetweb/projects/realmstitle.html
visit the CODE home page at:
http://artnetweb.com/artnetweb/gallery/galhome.html
For further information about REALMS, contact:
Annette Weintraub at: anwcc@cunyvm.cuny.edu
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ISDM_2.0
Yes Yes Yes. ISDM is finally back among the living, with version 2.0. New
graphics, new works, new lyrics. We'll be feeding you weekly little bits of
our goodies, not to flood your dentist ! Check it out and spread the word.
ISDM is increasingly evolving into an interactive, non-commercial platform
for the arts on the net. And not just that. Our graphically astonishing
first site was noted for its characteristic lack of content. This time we
kept a healthy approach to the visual aspect and increased the amount of
spicy textuals. ISDM remains hot as ever. Just burn your brains out !
vzw ISDM asbl
INTERACTIVE STUDY AND DOCUMENTATION ON MULTIMEDIA
Rue Roosendaelstraat 146
1190 BRUSSELS
CONTACT:Rudy De Waele
Tel/Fax:00 32 (0)2/346 65 01
isdm@innet.be
http://www.innet.net/brussels-arts/ISDM.html
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MOLECULAR CLINIC 1.0
Artlab on the Internet
Seiko Mikami
October 20, 1995 - April 30, 1996
http://sc_web.cnds.canon.co.jp/molecular_clinic/artlab_bionet/
In this work Seiko Mikami intends to illustrate the emerging theory
of molecular biology that every natural molecular structure in the
world can be replicated artificially via the manipulation of the
molecular chain. The project takes on its meaning from the
interaction of users worldwide who manipulate and change the project
in unexpected and random ways.
During their initial visit users should download the Molecular Engine
Viewer, which is a type of molecular laboratory for their computer.
What they will see on the web site after this initial download is a
virtual space containing a 3D computer generated Spider and Monolith
object. The user will be able to navigate through and into this
virtual space and can zoom into the Spider all the way to the
molecular level.
They will be able to select and download an individual atom from the
Spider into their own computer. The user can manipulate the atom in
various ways, mutating and transforming it, even culturing, splitting
and growing it, then the atom can be uploaded back into the Spider,
where it will affect the original or 'host' object.
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THE COMPLEAT WEBSTER:
A Guide to Emerging Genres in World Wide Web
Phrases like "web browsing" and "surfing the net" suggest that
World Wide Web is a relatively superficial medium. But is this
network intrinsically shallow, or has no one yet developed its
dramatic potential? The task of involving visitors in an intense
emotional way in a Web site seems almost impossible: how do you
deal with guests who manifest themselves only as an anonymous and
invisible series of "hits?" How can you provoke an aesthetically
strong experience on a Web site?
THE COMPLEAT WEBSTER, a special project of Leonardo Digital
Reviews, will focus on attempts to engage WWW visitors by
exploiting the Web's unique features, such as visitor-to-visitor
interactivity, online forms and client-pull constructs. We are
looking for short contributions, reviews or comments from visitors
who have found themselves caught in the Web. Statements of purpose
from WWW site authors are also welcome. We are interested in
discussions of how Web sites can become enthralling.
The project will be made visible through special issues of
Leonardo Digital Reviews, which is published electronically in
the _Leonardo Electronic Almanac (distributed by the MIT Press) and
posted on the Leonardo WWW site. Selections will be published in
the print journals Leonardo and Leonardo Music Journal.
Please email your contributions and suggested sites to
< davinci@uclink.berkeley.edu >
by 31 DECEMBER 1995.
For more information contact Kevin Murray:
E-mail: kmurray@werple.mira.net.au
http://werple.mira.net.au/~kmurray
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PUBLICATIONS
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INTERFACE
The autumn issue of Interface, ACCAD's (The Advanced Computing Center for the
Arts and Design) on-line journal is UP!
Web site: http://www.cgrg.ohio-state.edu/interface/
FTP for ASCII text only version: ftp://www.cgrg.ohio-state.edu/pub/interface
Editor: Nanette Wylde, E-mail: interface@cgrg.ohio-state.edu
Links and contributions are encouraged.
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ELECTRONIC MEDIA
The Australian Film Commission is compiling a new publication
'Electronic Media: International Guide for Art Distribution',
containing chapters on 'Exhibition & Regular Events',
'Distribution, Sales & Television', 'Research & Publications' and
'Art Sites'.
Organizations and institutes that did not receive the dummy the
AFC recently distributed for comment are probably not included.
In that case you may wish to get in touch with:
AFC Marketing Branch, GPO Box 3984, Sydney NSW 2001, Australia.
Tel: 61-2-3216444, Fax: 3573631, E-mail: marketing@afc.gov.au
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ATHANASIUS
Boletim Informativa da Socieda de Musica Electroacustica #2 just
appeared. In Portugese only.
SBME, Universidade de Brasilia, Departemento de Musica, Sala 21
70910-900 Brasilia -DF- Brasil
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MULTIMEDIA DICTIONARY
Editor Hans Sleurink. Over 1600 terms and 2000 acronyms.
352 pages, PS19.95
Academic Press, Marketing Dept, 24-28 Oval Rd, London NW1 7DX, UK
Tel: 44-171-267-4466, Fax: 0362
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CALLS
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CALL FOR GOOD IDEAS
"NETWORKED CITY" *)
A networked event is to take place during ISEA96, the 7th
International Symposium on Electronic Art, September 16-20 1996, and
R96, a city wide festival organized by Rotterdam Festivals September
16-29 1996. Both festivals will be held in Rotterdam The Netherlands.
The idea is to give people who are not connected (to the Internet) an
idea of what the Internet is and that it can be fun, by creating an
attractive game, that can be accessed in different ways.
We will try to integrate low and high levels of being 'connected':
from telephone and tv right up to fast networked computers. We are
thinking of 4 layers of participation. The two first levels allow for
participation from home. The idea is to draw people from low to high
levels of participation and to get them to physically visit the
locations of level 3 and 4. The amount of possible participation
accumulates from level to level.
Level 1
TV and telephone.
A local TV channel continuously shows the project in progress. A
database of objects ('building blocks') or characters is also shown.
People can influence part of the project via telephone.
Level 2
a. Computer & Modem or,
b. privatly owned CD-i or CD-ROM players connected to modems or
c. two-way cable tv.
-a. The database can be found at the central computer (level 4) and
is accessible via computermodem.
-b. The database will also be available (easily accessible and high
res) on specially produced CD-i and CD-ROM disks. CD-i is a
'consumer's CD-ROM player', developed by Philips, connected to a TV,
not to a computer.
-c. By September '96, 80.000 households in Rotterdam will in
principle have interactive tv, via two-way cable.
Level 3
CD-i, modem and ISDN
At 8-10 public locations spread over town (cultural centers etc) CD-i
players with modem connections and ISDN telephone lines will be
available for fast interaction.
Level 4
At a central location people can see the complete project and
interact with it very fast, directly via computer terminals. This is
the physical location of the central computer system. This system
runs the database and the project in progress. From the other levels
the project in progress will be visible, but not the complete project
all at once.
We are looking for ideas to make it attractive and fun to
participate. The low levels of participation must make people
interested and curious enough to go to the central locations. One of
the ways of achieving this goal might be to involve the possibility
of connecting people with similar interests. These people could meet
physically at the central locations. The interests may be symbolized
by icons that are part of the database.
Possible directions in which to think are for example:
-A game in which people have an alter ego in the shape of a graphic
character or can construct such an alter ego
-The collective building of a 'real' city (the 'ideal' city, the city
of the future, etc)
-The use of Genetic Algoritms
We would like to receive proposals that may still be rather vague
(although detailed plans are of course welcome), accompanied by
sketches etc. Proposed software to be used does not have to be
available yet. However, we like to see proposals as soon as possible.
The first deadline is January 1st, 1996.
The best idea, or combination of ideas, will be choosen by a
committee formed by the organizations and firms mentioned below. This
idea (or combination of ideas) will be realized in close
communication with the originator(s). The intention is to invite them
to present the project during ISEA96. Proper credits will be given at
all relevant occasions. If necessary, ideas will be protected
(patented) in the name(s) of the originator(s).
NETWORKED CITY is a coproduction of:
- ISEA96
- Rotterdam Festivals
- Spirit/Mediaport (part of Rotterdam City Development)
- and several major companies
*) 'Networked City' is a new name for the event called 'Virtual
Community', mentioned in the ISEA96 Call for Participation.
Contact
ISEA96, PO Box 8656, 3009 AR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Tel/Fax: 31-10-4778605, E-mail: isea96@hro.nl or isea96@ext.eur.nl
the ISEA96 Call for Participation:
http://www.eur.nl/ISEA96
http://www.xs4all.nl/~isea
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5CYBERCONF
Fifth International Conference on Cyberspace
June 6th to 9th, 1996. Madrid, Spain
Hosted by "Fundacion Arte y Tecnologia de Telefonica"
5CYBERCONF is an international conference that addresses the social,
political and cultural implications of cyberspace from a critical
standpoint and encourages discussion between theoreticians and
practitioners. Hosted for the first time in Europe, this fifth edition
of CYBERCONF considers computer-human interface breakthroughs, our
fascination and weariness with disobedient technology, the role of
synthetic behaviour in virtual design, and the increasing importance of
cross-cultural contributions to the electronic community.
In the 90s cyberspace has reached a critical mass. The tools to
construct and navigate virtual worlds are becoming increasingly
affordable, intuitive and widespread. The rise in bandwidth and dropping
prices have provoked the exponential growth of the online population (or
is it the other way around?). As the net becomes a mainstream hit, how
has the transition from science fiction to reality changed cyberspace?
CONFERENCE FORMAT
5CYBERCONF is scheduled to start on Thursday afternoon, June 6th and
take place over three and a half days. There will be 8 keynote speakers,
18 plenary sessions, special events, a videoconference link-up and a
banquet dinner on Sunday June 9th. All sessions are designed to foster
discussion. Presentations will be in English and Spanish with
simultaneous translation. The six themes are:
INTER-FACE LIFT
How are the boundaries of the computer-human interface disappearing? Is
the "window onto the world" metaphor exhausted? Can we unframe our
synthetic worlds? What can replace the cartesian grid as a reference for
non-linear worlds?
CYBER SICK-AND-TIRED
Who is leaving cyberspace and why? What are the different forms of
cyber-sickness? Is the body rejecting interfaces that ignore it? What
are the old and new psychological disorders manifested in or caused by
cyberspace? What are the different forms of cyber-tiredness? How can we
counteract the disenchantment brought about by the unfulfilled promises
of the cyber-hype industry? Who is buying the media's portrayal of
cyberspace as dirty and dangerous? Who is winning the battles to control
or dominate access?
TECHNOLOGY GOOD, PEOPLE BAD (Virtual Perversions)
When will the predicted death of "outmoded" dualisms finally happen? Is
accepting our own cyborgness the only way to explore post-humanism, or
are there other, as-yet-unimagined, ways? How do we create new languages
to describe unprecedented experiences? How has the language of
cyberspace changed since the first CYBERCONF?
DIGITAL THIRD WORLDS
Are there digital ethnic groups? How can ceremony and language be used
in the retro-colonization of cyberspace? Can the international economic
system be de-virtualized? What kinds of non-digital virtuality are
there? What are the experiences of new online communities in countries
where access is relatively recent, and how are their contributions
changing the time and space of cyberspace? Who are the new marginals?
The "Global Village" and other myths.
CRASH TECHNOLOGY
What is seductive about technology out-of-control? What would be the
uses of a "personal dis-organizer"? What is technological correctness?
How will our ethics be transformed by the ability to "undo" our virtual
actions? Will artificial intelligence finally deliver an automaton that
disobeys? What is cyber-pain? (and where to find it).
SYNTHETIC BEHAVIOUR (Recombinart)
Can cyberspace behaviour be "rendered" (as in designer-behaviour)? What
constitutes interesting behaviour? Will synthetic behaviour change what
we mean by normal behaviour? What is the virtual equivalent of the
Undead? What proposals challenge the dead/alive binary (videogames,
military simulators, etc.) as the primary paradigm of virtual
interaction?
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
To submit an abstract for the potential inclusion of your paper in the
5CYBERCONF programme, please follow these format guidelines:
Title of the paper
Author(s)
Institutional affiliation, if any
Chosen 5CYBERCONF theme (from the list above)
Abstract, 500 words maximum
Brief biography, 100 words maximum
Audiovisual equipment requirements
Contact information (email preferred)
There are two ways to submit: 1) Email 5cyberconf@ceai.telefonica.es
with the subject "5CYBERCONF Submission" or 2) mail both a printed copy
and a PC or MAC diskette to the address given below.
The selection will be done by an international and a local committee
made up of academics, theorists, artists and technicians in the field.
Submission of an abstract indicates the submitter's intention and
capability to write and present the corresponding, full length paper, if
chosen. Papers will be alloted a half hour for presentation and may be
in English or Spanish. Please be advised that the selection committees
will not consider abstracts that are not formatted as stated above nor
papers that have been previously published.
All papers will be published in a bilingual edition of the proceedings,
which will be available in late 1996.
DEADLINES
Deadline for reception of abstracts: February 15, 1996
Notification of selection for presentation: March 15, 1996
Deadline for registration: May 1, 1996
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
The registration fee will be waived for those presenting a paper in
5CYBERCONF. In addition, a limited number of grants are available to
those presenters who demonstrate financial need. These grants cover the
costs of travel, accommodation and a per diem.
FEES & REGISTRATION
The registration fee for attending 5CYBERCONF is US$200 (US$100 for
students). For detailed information on how to register and information
on travel and accommodation, please contact Susie Ramsay at
5cyberconf@ceai.telefonica.es or at the address given below. Please note
that registration is on a first-come, first serve basis and attendance
is limited to 140. Late registration will be available as space permits
and at an extra charge.
5CYBERCONF
Fundacion Arte y Tecnologia
Gran Via, 28. 2 planta
28013 Madrid, Espana
Tel: 34-1-542-9380, Fax: 34-1-521-0041, E-mail: 5cyberconf@ceai.telefonica.es
http://www.telefonica.es/fat/
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L'ALTERNATIVA '96
3rd Alternative Film Festival
February 23 - March 2 1996, Barcelona, Spain
A non-competetive event that strives to promote directors and works
which, due to their innovative creativity, are often marginalized by
mainstream distribution channels.
Send A VHS tape, a photo from the film and a photo of the director,
together with a completed entry form before December 30, 1995.
Professional Cinematographic Grants 'Helping Hand', for films, (not
videos).
Info and Entry forms for both the Festival and the Grants:
La Fabrica de Cindema Alternatiu
Ms Silvia Capella or Karyn Riegel, CCCB, Montalegre 5, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Tel: 34-3-4120-781/82, Fax: 520 or: 34-3-3180612
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8TH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ANIMATED FILM
March 29 - April 3 1996, Stuttgart, Germany.
Competitions. One prize of DM 35.000, 2 of DM 15.000 and several other
amounts to be won. Info:
Internationales Trickfilm-Festival, Teckstrasse 56, D-70190 Stuttgart,
Germany. Tel: 49-711-262-2699, Fax: 4980
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The Inter-Society aims at joining a world-wide network of artists, scien-
tists and their institutes, making it easier for the institutes and
individual members to share expertise with each other. The aims of the
Inter-Society are to promote a structured approach to electronic art and
to help finance worthy electronic art projects. For membership information
contact ISEA at the address on the front page.
ISEA distributes a hard copy version of this Newsletter in order to keep
its members, who have no access to Electronic Mail, informed. Those members
can, if they desire, get in touch with the Email addresses mentioned in this
Newsletter by contacting ISEA.
Support: Erasmus University Rotterdam (Law Dept), Amsterdam University,
V2 Organisation, YLEM, ISAST, Media Research, Museum der Stad Gladbeck,
The Council for the Int. Bienale in Nagoya, KITT Engineering, Viking
Eggeling-Salskapet, Bratislava Academy of Fine Arts & Design, Softimage
Inc, Lokman Productions, ARTCOM in Deutschland e.V., Painatuskeskus Oy,
Tallinn Art University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, BSO Medialab,
Koln Academy for Media Arts, Monitor Information Systems, Nordiska
Konstkolan, Centre Georges Pompidou, Rotterdam Academy of Art & Design .
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End of Newsletter