THE INTER-SOCIETY FOR THE ELECTRONIC ARTS ISEA NEWSLETTER #74 October- November 1999 ISSN1488-3635 _______________________________________________________________ * CONTENTS * * Editorial * ISEA News * News from Members * Feature Articles * Event Reports * _______________________________________________________________ *Une version francaise est disponible. Contactez le secretariat pour l'obtenir* ************************** EDITORIAL ************************** AN AUTUMN OF NEW MEDIA ART IN MONTRÉAL The fall season usually brings a bumper crop of symposia, conferences, exhibitions, and festivals in the electronic arts, and so it is no surprise, now that the leaves are finally turning colour, Montreal is experiencing its own autumnal flurry of new media events. How appropriate that Champ Libre kicks off the season on the first cold day of September with the 4th edition of their week-long Manifestation internationale vidéo et art électronique. ISEA's General Assembly on New Media Art, Cartographies, and the Media Lounge at the Montreal New Cinema and New Media Festival (FCMM) take us into October. The autumn is rounded out in November by NewOp8, a Conference on Creation, Voice, and New Technology organized by Chants Libres which will bring ISEA Board member Atau Tanaka (among other artists) to this city. Almost simultaneously, Elektra, a festival of electroacoustic music organized by the Association pour la création et la recherche électroacoustiques du Québec (ACREQ), will import the Austrian duo Granular Synthesis. After a nomadic summer which saw our Executive Director Carlos Soldevila and members of our tireless Board of Directors (namely Cynthia Beth Rubin, Kathy Rae Huffman, and Nina Czegledy) represent ISEA at Siggraph99 in Los Angeles, Invencao in Brazil, and Navigating Intelligence at Banff (see the event reports within this issue of the newsletter), ISEA has come home to roost. Buoyed by the excitement and enthusiasm demonstrated by those who attended the ISEA "gatherings" at these events, ISEA HQ is poised to launch Cartographies: the General Assembly on New Media Art, which finds itself smack-dab in the middle of Montreal's "new media season". The ISEA gatherings in Los Angeles, São Paulo, and Banff were an outreach to the international electronic art community, and sowed the seeds for future partnerships and collaborations. Conversely, with Cartographies, a look at New Media Art across Canada and Québec with a nod to various international models, ISEA brings the electronic art community to Montreal -a city whose reputation as an international crossroads for research, innovation, and creation in new technologies is cultivated in large part by the presence and synergy of organizations such as ISEA and the festivals mentioned above. An important point on ISEA's fall agenda is, of course, the Annual General Meeting of its members on the third day of Cartographies (October 14, 4-6pm) in the offices of ISEA HQ (full details in this issue of the newsletter). This will be an opportunity for members to discuss the past year's activities, as well as to brainstorm and plan for the months and years to come. Following in the wake of an exciting programme of panels and workshops (see below for the Cartographies programme), the AGM should be chock full with new ideas and initiatives. One such initiative has already been proposed by ISEA member Patrick Lichty: you will find his article and plan of action on disability issues and diversity in this newsletter. We hope you will also enjoy a delightful rumination on the electronic arts and millennialism written by Virginie Pringuet, a member of the new media programming team at the FCMM. If our Annual General Meeting and Cartographies were not enough, there seems a multitude of other reasons for our members to find themselves in Montreal this fall. We hope to see you in town! Katarina Soukup 4e Manifestation internationale vidéo et art électronique Champ libre 19-26 September, 1999 http://www.champlibre.com Cartographies: The General Assembly on New Media Art ISEA/FCMM 12-14 October, 1999 http://www.isea.qc.ca/carto The Montréal International Festival of New Cinema and New Media (FCMM) Ex-Centris Complex 14-24 October, 1999 http://www.fcmm.com NewOp 8: Conference on Creation, Voice, and New Technology Chants libres 10 - 13 November, 1999 http://www.chantslibres.org Elektra ACREQ/Usine C 4-13 November, 1999 thibaul@cam.org ****************** ISEA AGM ****************** ISEA Annual General Meeting Thursday, October 14, 1999 4-6pm ISEA Headquarters Ex-Centris Complex 3530 St-Laurent Blvd., suite 305 Montreal, Quebec, CANADA We wish to inform you that ISEA's Annual General Meeting will be held this year in the Montreal offices of ISEA HQ during Cartographies: The General Assembly on New Media Art. These 3 days of conferences organized by ISEA will be an occasion to gather, we hope, the most ISEA members and members of our various committees (Board of Directors, Cultural Diversity Committee, and the ISEA International Advisory Committee). In the spirit of recent ISEA gatherings at Siggraph and Invencao during which enthusiasm and a strong desire to participate was generated by the large number in attendance, we hope this AGM will open the doors to new projects and new collaborations. Among other items, the agenda will include the ISEA financial report, our report of activities and projects, as well as a development plan for the year(s) to come. Looking forward to seeing you, The ISEA HQ team ****************** CARTOGRAPHIES The General Assembly on New Media Art Montreal, Ex-Centris Complex, October 12-14, 1999 http://www.isea.qc.ca/carto Towards a Definition of Media Art A Canadian Cartography PROGRAMMING Day I / Tuesday 12 October 1999 ZONE ZERO : New Media - Before and Beyond 9h to 10h : Registration 10h to 12h30 : Opening Conferences - Alain Mongeau, ISEA , FCMM (Quebec) - Sara Diamond, Banff Multimedia Institute (CA) - Pierre Levy, UQTR, (France/Quebec) - Gerfried Stocker, Ars Electronica (Austria) 14h30 to 17h00 : International models and centres Moderator : Nina Czegledy, ISEA (Canada) - Alex Adriaansens, V2 (NL) - Nils Aziosmanoff, Art3000 (France) - Tiina Erkintalo, MuuMedia Festival (Finland) - Claudia Giannetti, Mecad (Spain) - Peter Ride, DA2 (UK) 17h a 19h : "Carrefour informel" at the Societe des arts technologiques/ Technological Arts Society Presentation of the work of the resident artist, Isabelle Choiniere (Corps Indice) INFO SAT : 844-2033 / 307 Ste-Catherine West, # 610, Montreal Day II / Wednesday 13 October 1999 TACTICAL ZONES: The State of Media Art : Quebecois and Canadian Experiences Guest Curators: Francine Dagenais and Sylvie Parent (Montreal) 9h30 -12h30 : Round-table: New Territories to Confront and Redefine the Field of New Media Art Moderator: Thierry Bardini (Montreal) - Luc Courchesne (Montreal) - Shery Kootenhayoo (Calgary) - Valerie Lamontagne (Montreal) - Catherine Richards (Ottawa) - Thecla Schiphorst (Vancouver) - Sheila Urbanoski (Wishart, SK) 14h30 - 17h30 : Round-table: Interfacing Present Structures to the Challenges of Digital Cultures Moderator: Francine Dagenais - Brenda Cleniuk, Neutral Ground (Regina) - Marc Fournel, Daïmon (Hull) - Tom Leonhardt (Toronto) - Jocelyn Robert, Avatar (Quebec) - Société des arts technologiques (Montreal) - Gisèle Trudel, TechnOboro (Montreal) 20h00 : Performance La Mue de l'Ange, a new show by Le Corps Indice Theatre La Veillee, 1371 Ontario East, Montreal INFO Corps Indice : (514) 251-8588 Day III / Thursday 14 October 1999 MOBILE ZONES : The Challenge of New Networks / Thematic workshops 9h30 -12h30 : Round-Tables 1.Conserving and Archiving Digital Work Moderator: Petra Mueller, artist (Montreal) - Alain Depocas, Daniel Langlois Foundation (Montreal) - Steve Dietz, curator, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, USA) - Robbin Murphy, founder of artnetweb, (New York, USA) - Virginie Pringuet, D.A.T.A. (Montreal) 2. Research and Innovation Moderator : Michael Century, McGill University (Montreal) - Charles Halary, Universite du Quebec a Montreal - Francine Lecours, Heritage Canada (Ottawa/Hull) - Kathy Rae Huffman, ISEA/ Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, EU) - Bill Vorn, Concordia University (Montreal) - Ron Wakkary, Technical University of British Columbia (Vancouver) 14h30-15h30 : Closing words 16h00-18h00 : ISEA Annual General Meeting A production of ISEA/ Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts in collaboration with the Montreal Festival of New Cinema and New Media (FCMM). With the support of The Canada Council for the Arts, Le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec, Canadian Heritage, Office franco-quebecois pour la jeunesse. 3 DAY PACKAGE including a ticket for the show La Mue de l'Ange (Corps Indice): 100$ (75$ ISEA Members) 35$ per day (25$ per day ISEA Members) For more information about the AGM or about Cartographies, please contact ISEA HQ ISEA98 PROCEEDINGS John Moores University has announced that the likely publication date for the ISEA98 proceedings will be in November. ISEA HQ is in contact with the university and will keep members informed about the availability of the proceedings. ****************** NEWS FROM MEMBERS ****************** ** ISEA members YOSHI ABE (computer graphics) and SHINSUKE INA (video installation) were featured in a group show of media art during Kyoto Media Art Week 99. The exhibition took place September 27 to October 9, 1999 at Gallery Fleur, Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto (Japan). Info: http://www.at-m.or.jp/~abe/iseajp/info/mart99.html ** ISEA board member THECLA SCHIPHORST participated in the Virtual-Physical Bodies//the future synthesis Symposium organized by ResCen: Centre for Research into Creation in the Performing Arts in Londo (UK), September 17 - 19 1999. Info: rescen@mdx.ac.uk ** ISEA member JOSÉ-CARLOS MARIÁTEGUI's article "Techno- revolution: False revolution?" was published in Third Text 47 (Summer 1999), a special edition edited by Sean Cubitt entitled "Third World Wide Web". To order individual copies or subscribe: http://www.livjm.ac.uk/~mccscubi/3Tintro.html Thank you and welcome to the following new and renewing ISEA members: Melentie Pandilovski Réjean Dumouchel Antoinette Geldun Marieke Istha Shinsuke Ina Joshua Berman Ingeborg Reichle Georg Muehleck Beatriz de Medeiros Peter Bosh & Simone Simons Aarre Kärkkäinen Roy Ascott Ian Oliver Bjørn Ross Joel Chadabe Sandra Dametto Gregory Little Jack Ox Jeff Trupiano ****************** ARTICLES ****************** ARS ACCIDENTALIS, THE ART OF THE ACCIDENT THE AESTHETICS OF THE CRASH AND TECHNOLOGICAL MILLENNIALISM By Virginie Pringuet Encyclopedia Universalis, Millennialism: millennialism, the antici-pation of a Kingdom of paradise revisted, is often placed under the guidance of a charismatic leader, a messiah. It exists only among cultures in which myths of paradise-on-earth are prevalent -with the addition of a myth of the "return of cultural heros". Millennialism is the anticipation of a kingdom of rest and peace, yet millennialists often resort to violence to speed the coming of this kingdom. In fact, if millennialism is supposed to occur suddenly and "on its own", if theoretically it requires no instigation, millennialists nevertheless seek to expedite or aid its occurence through revolutionary action. Another glaring contradiction: if the Kingdom is situated in the future, it is nevertheless conceived as the return of an original golden age. Millennialism is almost always both reactionary and revolutionary at the same time. In general, it is made up of preliminary phases and ordeals hailed by celestial and terrestrial portents: comets, meteors, famines, blood baths, epidemics, earthquakes. These calamities are usually orchestrated by an anti-messiah -the Antichrist. In the fissures of the financial, industrial, and military sectors, the milieu of the electronic arts seems to be anticipating the seismic shake-up of the the end of the millenium and to be succumbing to the seduction of the semantic black hole of Y2K -the mind-boggling bug of the century. Since the fall of 1998, the majority of international electronic art festivals and symposia have abandonned their traditional debates around content or interactive writing to tackle themes more drenched with the scent of millennialism. Last September "Revolution and Terror" were discusssed at ISEA98 in Liverpool and Manchester; at Ars Electronica in Linz, it was a question of "InfoWar"; and finally, in November of last year, the Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF) in Rotterdam ruminated on the "Art of the Accident". With an anxiety about passing into the year 2000 and the third millennium almost more belated than that of small and medium-sized businesses, artists, theorists and organizers in the new media scene are now attempting to measure the problem of technological breakdown, viruses, computer crashes, and other system bugs in order to reveal their artistic and innovative potential. 1999 has jumpstarted an exploration of the relations between art, technology and society, a seemingly relentless pursuit accele-rated by the countdown to the millennium. In the mad race to understand the mystery of this so-called fatal deadline, the millennium has become the sign and symbol of the total accident, the time bomb. A time bomb which subjects us to the fear of the nuclear mushroom cloud. The DEAF festival is organized by V2, "the institute for the unstable media" a pionneering organization in new media based in Rotterdam and active since 1987. Unveiling the question of l'ars accidentalis, DEAF98 provided several unexplored routes of specu lation in terms of the creativity that resides in all mechanical dysfunction, whether this be a virus, a bug, or a computer crash. The guiding principles of DEAF were inspired by Artistolian philosophy, according to which the breakdown of our inventions is inscribed in their conception, indeed, in their substance, and profoundly constitutes their essence. As Paul Virilio has frequently pointed out, the invention of the boat, locomotive steam engine and nuclear fission coincides with that of the sinking, the derailment and the atomic bomb. Thus the accident not as an external, unforeseen event in time, but rather as a sudden transformation of matter in space. In this light, Virilio, questioned on the subject of l'ars accidentalis (1), defines the overall accident not as an external force perturbing a certain state or order, but as an intrinsic element of reality, the fate of an internal programme, a radical, uncontrolable mutation of the environment. Artist projects presented at DEAF, such as the Live Room - Transducting Resonant Architecture by Mark Bain, OSS from JODI or C.O.T.I.S. from the KIT collective all reveal the same determination to deconstruct the essence of the technological breakdown, to scope out the dynamic space/time dimensions of catastrophies (aural, visual, and material), as well as the desire to root out the aesthetics of the accident. These three projects consisted of creating, manipulating or capturing a perturbation which insinuates itself into the structure of an object (building, computer, airplane), and after being amplified, takes hold of said object, thereby radically and irreversibly transforming it. An audio, video, architectural, or network system put in place to try out the crash; mould collisions and parasites; degrade signals, machines, or buildings; confound navigation, lines of code, and javascripts.... The Aesthetic of the Virus Let's take the example of The Live Room by Mark Bain, a temporary installation, a parasitic device exploiting the specificity of a given architectural site -to whit: a bridge, a building, a boat, etc. Bain deploys a cohort of wave-generating machines, small appliances each with an acoustic intensification that attaches itself to strategic points of a building in order to become synchronized with the resonance of its structure and make it vibrate in the space which contains it. The Live Room uses the principle of seismic induction to activate the interior and exterior surfaces, creating an intense tectonic charge which connects the different parts of the building by making them vibrate. In Rotterdam, the offices of V2, as well as the barge upon which festival-goers found themselves for the closing party (appropriately baptized "Titanic"), became Bain's experimental terrain. A strange experience, both physically and sonically, to feel a building enter into phase with oneself, and to hear the interior song of an inert block of cement. As a virus, The Live Room seeks to reinject a breath of fresh air into these constructions, to reveal their secret life, and to make their internal characteristics and organic structure perceptible -all while putting them in peril and dangerously toying with the laws of demoliton and seismic action. The Aesthetic of the Bug For their part, the duo JODI, like good office pirates, have not yet finished exploring the aesthetic potential of error messages, the no-mans land, and electronic impasses which await all computer users on the web from the inner most depths of its operating system. The idea behind their preceding projects and OSS, a web project and CD-ROM, is relatively simple yet effective: when a calamity such as a bug infiltrates a hard drive, the user -just as much as the machine- becomes non-operational. Loss of control of the mouse, two if not three desperate clicks, ESCAPE, F3, Shift + Control + Apple + Backspace... nothing works. Nerves become frayed, the compulsive clicking, OSS, takes you hostage. Because JODI's forte is writing programmes which simulate models of computer dysfunction, models extolling the irrational, the anti-logical, the non-user-friendly, visual noise, and erratic navigation, the user is obliged to improvise, to unlearn, to break routines acquired by surfing a million web pages and by being subject to a thousand hours of Windows. The Aesthetic of the Crash Just as radical is the installation C.O.T.I.S. (Cult Of Inserter Seat) from KIT. It takes form as a kind of human-sized 'black box', abandoned on a road meridian in Rotterdam, and consists of a sanctuary of sounds, words, and images recorded before impact, as well as a geographic and sonic compilation of various plane crashes. Visitors timidly file through the padded universe of this metal container where the last seconds before a plane crash are looped. The black box becomes the sacred object here, having survived the explosion of space-time, a recorded space-time, an accelerated return to the earth, frozen in the form of stammered words, scrambled sounds, and images of the surface towards which we plummet. In contrast to the ejection seat, the black box remains entangled in the entrails of the doomed aircraft, and constitutes a final recording before the ultimate fusion between human and machine, an irreversible and tragic encounter between humans and their tools. Revisiting certain symbolic elements of the Apocalypse (one of the last books of the Bible) which turn the sky into a mirror of the earth and its future scars, C.O.T.I.S expresses the impossibility of humans and their inventions to cross certain boundaries (the conquest of space, speed) without mutual annihilation, without transforming their points of intersection and zones of impact and destruction. The bent of the DEAF Festival was the accident as a source of inspiration, as a point of departure for contemplating the ecology of unstable media, rather than a sense of pervading catas-trophism. The mass media, for their part, seem determined to popularize Y2K, all while cloaking it in mystery: proffering new representations of technological objects imbued with millennial superstition and apocalyptic symbolism. Cognitive shortcuts which impart a natural reference to information systems in order to explain the dysfunctions of economic, social, and political systems -in short, the information society. Having become the dominant metaphor of post-industrial society, computer systems and networks have reformulated the powerful symbols and recurring myths appearing throughout the history of science and technology, as well as during the (rare) periods of transition between millennia. We are thus living on the cusp of the transition into the year 2000 and of the universalization of the 400 MgH processor, an exceptional conjuncture for the exacerbation of beliefs and superstitions which, since the dawn of time, have always accompanied the invention of new tools by the human being - the fragile homo faber struggling to master his environment and to quench an insatiable need to control his destiny. On the eve of 2000, the return of Christ has been translated into the sudden looming appearance of a Y2K in which we find the same form of sanction against the arrogant human being. God, divine punishment, and the 'bug' as the new "reincarnation" of an all-powerful God. (1) Surfing the accident, "The Art of the Accident", NAI Publishers/V2-Organisatie, Rotterdam, 1998 URLs : V2 Organisatie : http://www.v2.nl ISEA98 : http://www.isea98.org Ars Electronica98 : http://www.aec.at/infowar/ JODI : http://oss.jodi.org ; http://www.jodi.org KIT : http://www.gas.u-net.com/cotis/cotis.html Virginie Pringuet has worked with the New Media section of the Montréal Festival of New Cinema and New Media since 1997. The Festival takes place October 14 - 24, 1999. http://www.fcmm.com This article originally appeared in Synopsis, the journal of Main Film, a resource centre for independent film makers in Montreal (CANADA) . http://www.mainfilm.qc.ca/ ****************** ENABLING THE DISABLED VOICE: ISSUES OF DISABILITY IN NEW MEDIA ARTS. by Patrick Lichty In the technological arts, there have been recent initiatives such as the ISEA Virtual Africa project [1], where the primary goal is to foster greater diversity in the larger cultural discussion. Although projects such as this have created significant steps towards inclusion of a wider base of colleagues in the practice of new media art, I find that many diversity programs on the institutional level tend to focus largely on gender, sexual orientation, nationality, and race. Concerns related to disability seem to have less prevalence in contrast to these other initiatives, although they are not altogether absent. When television advertisements allude to the inclusiveness of online communities and the Internet, it seemed curious that there was not a greater representation of disabled artists online as such. Also in question are the representational practices that the disabled person would use in constructing their sense of identity as part of this demographic. Given that my examination of disability and technological art is in its early stages, such topics appear as excellent starting points for inquiry. In taking into account the role of the disabled in technological art, Paul Virilio's essay, The Third Interval [2] comes to mind. He writes of the convergence of cultural similarities between the technologically accelerated person and the computerized person with disabilities. According to Virilio, as we become subject to longer spans of computer access, the body is immobilized, as physical mobility becomes irrelevant. As the networked disabled get access to networked communications systems, their mode of functioning becomes similar, as both place their emphasis in cyberspatial mobility. Has the notion of disability become transparent within society as larger numbers of people gain access to Internet technologies? In order to consider this question, we need to address the question of access and the disabled. Economic pressures frequently prevent the disabled individual from gaining access to the Internet. Although in some Western countries, disabled individuals may be eligible for assistance in obtaining computer equipment, even relatively inexpensive access charges can be problematic to those whose disposable incomes are frequently under ten to twenty percent of their monthly amount [3]. This is compounded further by the fact that many creative computer programs and peripherals are not covered under governmental disability programs, and are simply beyond the economic reach of the disabled. Perhaps one solution is that there are numbers of freeware Web authoring and media creation packages available on the Internet to allow creative expression in the areas of net.art and digital imaging. However, this also presupposes a certain level of facility with the equipment itself. This presents challenges relating to the actual act of interfacing with the disabled person. There are physical obstacles to overcome for the disabled new media artist. Assuming that these are overcome to one extent or another, what are the representational issues of the disabled individual on the conceptual level? This idea can be contrasted with others by artists who have developed works based on social stereotypes, such as Gomez-Pena and Silfuentes, who have created sites such as the Temple of Confessions [4]. In the Temple, visitors confess their cultural 'sins' relating to their prejudices and preconceptions of cultural other-ness. 'Confessions" addresses Latino and Chicano topics, but this author has, as yet, to see interactive sites that confront matters of disabled identity. The traditional perception of the disabled person is that of those with impairments in mobility, as depicted by the international symbol for the handicapped; the person in the wheelchair. Although this symbol creates an easily identifiable metaphor for this demographic, it represents only a fraction of the entire population. Such a heterogenous group can be difficult to define under any one classification. For example, many disabled individuals and artists have very different interfacing needs. These include amputees, the perceptually disabled (blindness, deafness), as well as those with mental impairments or disorders. Not only can these limitations impair the manipulation of the tools required for the creation of new media art, they also may alter learning curves for the gaining of expertise with software, etc. However, as an inclusive attitude in the arts does not imply equality as instilling similar amounts of disciplinary virtuosity in all people. A discussion of the disabled in new media arts must limit itself to those who first have a calling to the arts and the requisite creative desire, and to addressing those interfacing issues for those who do wish a creative voice in the emergent digital technologies. Although my research in the matter of disabled identity in new media art is ongoing, a majority of responses that I have had from disabled artists relate to the social stigmas that are ascribed to them. An example of this is that of the association of the disabled artist with the state workhouse craft shop.This is understandable, as a professional colleague possessing a syndrome with symptoms similar to those of Cerebral Palsy was asked if he would speak English in conversation. Therefore, we can reference back to Virilio that in many cases the disabled artist chooses to pass in online culture.This agrees with Goffman's work on virtual identity and stigma [5], as the individual, when given the choice between the stigmatized identity and that of a virtual one that passes in societal interactions, frequently chooses to mainstream themselves. This is problematic in regards to advocacy for handicapped demographics, as in the act of 'passing', the disabled individual diminishes the visibility of their social group, often re-marginalizing their cultural issues. As a cultural director of a foundation that seeks to advocate the rights of, and for the alteration of perceptions of the mainstream toward the disabled individual, the place within the emerging digital art world that the artist will take is of great interest to me. There are some excellent groups that are working with artists and the disabled to explore the creative potential of the technological arts, such as Lighthouse Brighton [6], and Renga-Sense 0f Touch [7]. However, it is my belief that disabled culture is, by and large, not being addressed in many art genres, and in digital art in particular. These issues could be addressed through installation works, programs for access, and curated exhibits that center around the technologically-(re)enabled artist. Enabling the voice of the disabled artist has obstacles stemming from socioeconomic, access, visibility, social stigma, and educational sources. Also, many artists of this group who do work in the digital arts distance themselves by eliding the issues of their own disability through the adoption of Turkle-esque virtual personae. It is surprising that even though there are a number of artists online who use technological media, few feel that such personal experiences are not germane to their work. However, in considering the role of the disabled in the furthering of a more diverse environment for the technological arts, there is a need for a larger dialogue than is already extent. And it is my hope that this brief discussion will pose questions that serve to open discussion of the role that the disabled artist plays in the larger cultural milieu. References/Notes: [1] ISEA Virtual Africa Project, http://www.isea.qc.ca/welcome.html [2] Virilio, Paul. The Third Interval, from ReThinking Technology, 1993, ed. Verena A. Conley, Univ. of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN USA [3] Conversation with M. Cohn, CEO of Promote Awareness, a disabilities advocacy foundation, http://www.promoteawarness.com [4] Pena/Silfuentes, Temple of Confessions, http://www.powerhousebooks.com/temple/temple.html [5]. Goffman, Erving, Stigma. Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. pp.10, 1963 Penguin. Harmondsworth, Middlesex [6] Lighthouse Brighton, http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/ [7] Renga Project. Sense of Touch, 1998, Japanese collaborative, http://www.renga.com ****************** DISABILITY: A DIVERSITY INITIATIVE by Patrick Lichty Discussing the possibility for the addition of a disabled culture to any diversity program leads to the question of logistics in the creation of a space for that given culture in that given program. The following is a proposal for a series of projects that could involve disabled artists, or disabled people who wish to explore their creativity, in ISEA's mission of diversity. We all have our challenges, regardless of culture. As artists, we are all pressed for time and resources. What I am suggesting then, is an incremental, long-term project to be spearheaded by ISEA and Promote Awareness which will strive to foster collaboration, the dissemination of knowledge and resources, as well as spark further discussion. Implementation of any of these programs may take from months to years, but what I am convinced of is that there can be an ongoing synergistic community involving all cultures as long as we offer to do some portion of the work. The projects that I envision are: * Promotion of the initiative at conferences/symposia. * Cataloguing of completed projects involving disabled artists/disability cultures: This can give us a base of knowledge from which to draw upon in reference to the construction of future artistic ventures. * Resource/support lists for disabled artists. * A database of disabled technological artists as a reference for future collaborators and/or curators. This only assumes that they would allow themselves to be included in a database such as this (see article). * Periodic forums addressing disabled culture and the technological arts: The forums would invite a larger dialogue dealing with perception, technical challenges and cultural implications vis-à-vis the whole concept of 'disability'. * Surveys to determine perception of/by disabled artists, and possible ethnographic research. This would be completely anonymous, and could determine unanticipated needs and directions for the project. * Sponsorship/promotion of selected projects foregrounding disabled culture: Possibilities could be similar to those presented by the Virtual Africa Project. * The establishment of an agora for the intercultural collaboration between technological artists: This could be an online space within ISEA's webspace where artists could meet and synergize. In closing, I'll say that the creation/implementation of all of these programs have a pretty linear resource to completion ratio. The fewer people and less time afforded to such a project, the more time it will take to get the program implemented. Like you, I have my shows, writing, and survival that keep me pretty busy. However, I feel that these projects are at least worth investigating, and I hope you'll agree. Patrick Lichty is a technological artist and writer who is Cultural Director for Promote Awareness, a Minneapolis-based disabilities advocacy foundation. He is also an ISEA member. ****************** EVENT REPORTS ****************** SIGGRAPH99 August 8-13, 1999 Los Angeles Convention Centre Los Angeles, California http://www.siggraph.org/s99 Report by Cynthia Beth Rubin The SIGGRAPH annual Conference provided the opportunity for ISEA members to meet formally and informally. ISEA members, past and present, generally expressed a high level of interest in the activities of ISEA, and an interest in contributing to growth of the organization. Clearly ISEA has built a following of many people who are wonderful resources with a great deal of experience and much to offer, and during SIGGRAPH they came forward to offer their ongoing support. At the official ISEA meeting, about 50 members and friends of ISEA gathered to introduce themselves to one another, and to share information on organizations and events around the world. Among the many active artists, arts administrators, and art theorists were representatives from organizations that are of particular interest to ISEA members, including George Fifield from the Boston CyberArts Festival, Diane Gromala, Chair of the SIGGRAPH 2000 Art Gallery; Linda Hersom and James Scidmore, SIGGRAPH International Committee Chairs; Rhonda Jessen, Banff Centre; Eun-Sook Kwon: KAIST, in Korea, and Gilbert Dutertre from Imagina. The highlight of the ISEA meeting was the introduction of Carlos Soldevila, our new executive director. Carlos was available to meet with any one with an interest in ISEA, and he spent the time before and after our formal meeting engaged in dialog with many ISEA members, past members, and potential members. Board members Kathy Rae Huffman and Cynthia Beth Rubin also attended SIGGRAPH, and in addition to the ISEA meeting they represented ISEA at events hosted by Ars Electronica, Imagina, and the Japanese Multi-Media organization. They also engaged in numerous conversations with members throughout the week. ISEA literature was distributed at both the International Center and the RPI both (much thanks to both SIGGRAPH and RPI for providing the space). Cynthia Beth Rubin is a visual artist currently based in Providence, Rhode Island (USA) and a member of ISEA's Board of Directors. ****************** INVENCAO August 25-29, 1999 Itau Cultural Centre Sau Paulo, Brazil http://www.itaucultural.org.br/invencao/invencao.htm Report by Ernestine Daubner From the 25th to the 29th of August, the Brazilian skyscraper megalopolis, Sao Paulo, was the site for the international and transdisciplinary conference, "Invencao: Thinking the Next Millennium." The opening statements by the organizers, Arlindo Machado and Ricardo Ribenboim (Itau Cultural), Roy Ascott (CAiiA-STAR), Roger Malina (Leonardo) and Carlos Soldevila (ISEA) clearly set the tone for the conference. We were leaving Baudrillard's world of paranoia and entering an era of "telenoia" (Ascott) which heralded aesthetic shifts and cultural transformations. In the first plenary lecture, Eduardo Kac presented an engaging overview of the history of Brazilian technological art and contemporary media artists. This included a discussion of Otavio Donasci whose unscheduled TV-robotic performance the last evening provided a fitting end to a seemingly exhaustive and exhausting four days of total immersion in a panorama of inno-vative projects and ideas. From the "Cosmic Voyage" (the Imax project of Donna Cox and Robert Patterson) to the possibilities of "Creative Visualization of Ocean Data" (Gloria Brown-Simonns), to the dawning of a post-biological age (Roy Ascott) of bio- and nano-technologies, we learned we were heading in unfathomable directions. Perhaps such prospects as transferring genes to microorganisms or natural genetic material from one species to another (Eduardo Kac) prompt investigations into other realms: the world of dreams (Nina Czegledy), shaministic worldviews (Roslyn Dauber), Oriental spiritual traditions of mystics (Mike King), physics imbibed in subjectivity (Stephen Jones). Allusions to empathy, to dialogue, to cyberspace consciousness and a revisioning of the Benjaminian "aura" (Margot Lovejoy) were also prevalent themes. The excitement exhibited by artists presenting their projects was infectious. Melinda Rackham recounted the love story of "Carrier," a viral life that swarms within the nervous system of our planet. Christa Sommerer introduced her "Life Spacies" project, designed with Laurent Mignonneau, in which creatures are born (through the mediation of web visitors), struggle for survival, reproduce or clone themselves and eventually die. The a-life computer systems of Ryohei Nakatsu and Naoko Tosa generate three-dimensional imagery that can recognize and react to emotions and gestures of the interactors. There was also the "Cyberdance" of Ricardo Barreto and Paula Perissinotto, the sound walks of Andra McCartney, the CAVE VR sound and image project of Jack Ox and so much more. The overall mood was euphoric with few dissenting commentaries. Michael Punt's words about forgetting Armageddon seemed to hold true. Sara Diamond's zany (but dead serious) "performance manifesto event" was one notable exception. For her part, the new millennium is not one of rapprochement between technology, art and culture but one that exhibits an acceleration of cruelty, irrationality and coldness on the part of science and mass culture. Stephen Wilson called for artists to make direct interventions and to reflexively probe the cultural implications of new areas of science and technology. Nell Tenhaaf, who explores the mythologies and representational strategies informing a-life, is an artist who does just that. A participant in Wilson's panel, "Art at the Frontiers of Scientific and Technological Research," Tenhaaf also partook in a special woman's panel organized by Leonardo. This female panel (which included the pioneer computer artist, Sonya Rapoport) also offered a note of discord. Gender hierarchies are still an issue in the world of art, science and technology! That few women have reached the upper echelons in this domain was highlighted by the all-male panel of organizers who opened the conference. A consolation perhaps -- at least half the presenters were women. Lively discussions spread beyond the parameters of the Red and Blue Rooms -- to the exhibition halls, cafeteria, hotel lobbies and breakfast areas, to the "fastfood" salad bars, sushi and samba bars, and to the many delicious restaurants (Sao Paulo won the "world capital of gastronomy" award in 1997). After the last performance by Infobodies and Donasci (which provided the only "closing" for the Invencao conference), impromptu groups formed, wandered off, found a place to eat... Such an ending appropriately reflected the conference as a site for pockets of creative interactions, empathetic encounters, random dialogues, temporary connections. Ernestine Daubner is a lecturer in the Art History Department at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) and an ISEA member. ****************** NAVIGATING INTELLIGENCE: A BANFF SUMMIT September 9-12, 1999 Banff Centre for the Arts Banff, Canada Report by Nina Czegledy The "Navigating Intelligence: a Banff Summit" conference held between September 9-12, 1999 at the Banff Centre for the Arts, was publicized as a "think thank" for artists, curators, theorists and activists interested in software development, data base and information politics. In reality, this meeting -instead of merely a think-thank site for serious, sober and solemn networking discussions - proved to be an animated, energetic and lively event for those who gathered for a few days from both sides of this continent and far beyond. The first day of the event was devoted to curating and reviewing new media projects. A wide range and variety of topics on emerging new paradigms in media arts were presented. Sara Diamond (Artistic Director for Media and Visual Arts, Banff Centre) chaired these sessions and her quick overviews and comments were of immense value. Political and socio-political presentations ranged from Latin American narrative projects for the Web, through the contentious activities of Negativland, to issues related to Canadian native art. In the afternoon, the St. Petersburg Bionet on-line gallery was presented by Kostya Mitenev, Beryl Graham (UK) discussed curating interactive work including the Serious Games exhibition at the Barbican and Vera Frenkel's eloquent and witty presentation on issues of cultural politics was one of the highlights of the day. Later -in the light of the afternoon sun on the balcony- the discussion continued on international collaborative projects. From Friday to Sunday, the focus of the conference -utilizing the metaphor of navigated intelligence- was on the examination and evaluation of the potentials and proficiencies of digital tools as used by artists, software developers and designers, e-commerce experts, network specialists, distributors, researchers and educators. It is impossible to list the range of presentations within the scope of this report. Briefly, reflections on the changing nature of art practice, digital culture, artificial intelligence, aspects of presentation, as well as features of the global media-scape were extensively discussed. Access and the nature of project collaborations was also a widely considered topic by presenters and participants alike. It was intriguing to note the extent and scope of play involved in software development - ranging from anarchist activism to agents of artificial intelligence. We were treated to fascinating examples of interactive music projects and an eloquent performance by Jools Gilson- Ellis & Richard Povall, co-directors of half/angel. Beyond the daytime and evening presentations, one should not forget to mention the hike up to Tunnel Mountain, the pool and last but not least the great Saturday night party. Together with Carlos Soldevila, director of ISEA, we repeated our lunch-meeting performance of Sao Paolo - presenting current and future directions of ISEA, upcoming events, collaborations and asking for comments from members and would be members alike. It is hoped that the enthusiastic interest shown at these various ISEA meetings by those who attended, will continue in the future. In barely four days of this conference, many fresh initiatives were proposed, a wide range of projects presented, and new collaborations were forged. Hopefully this is just a beginning of building a new network attracted to navigating intelligence. Nina Czegledy is an independent media artist, curator, writer, and ISEA Board member. ******************************* JOBS AND CALLS FOR PROJECTS WILL BE SENT AS SEPARATE EMAIL ******************************* ISEA NEWSLETTER ============================================================ Editor: Katarina Soukup / Translation: Caroline Martel, Katarina Soukup, Natalie Melancon Collaborators: Yoshi Abe, Nina Czegledy, Ernestine Daubner, Patrick Lichty, Natalie Melancon, Cynthia Beth Rubin, Kathy Rae Huffman, Virginie Pringuet, Eva Quintas, Katarina Soukup. ______________________________________________________ ISEA, 3530 boul. Saint-Laurent, suite 305, Montreal (Qc), H2X 2V1, CANADA Tel: (514) 847-8912, Fax: (514) 847-8834 email: isea@isea.qc.ca URL: http://www.isea.qc.ca _____________________________________________________________ ISEA Board Members: Nina Czegledy, Kathy Rae Huffman, Amanda McDonald Crowley, Alain Mongeau, Cynthia Beth Rubin, Thecla Schiphorst, Atau Tanaka, Wim van der Plas. ___________________________________________________________________ ISEA LISTSERV: To subscribe, send a message to: listproc@uqam.ca, no subject, with the message in the body: "subscribe ISEA-forum first name last name" ============================================== 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: La Fondation Daniel Langlois, Ministere de la culture et des communications du Quebec. ============================================================================ ISEA- Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts ISEA- Inter-societe des arts electroniques 3530 boul. Saint-Laurent, suite 305 Montreal, Quebec, CANADA H2X 2V1 Tel. +1-514-847-8912 * Fax. +1-514-847-8834 isea@isea.qc.ca * http://www.isea.qc.ca