THE INTER-SOCIETY FOR THE ELECTRONIC ARTS ISEA NEWSLETTER ISSN1488-3635 #79 August - September 2000 PART II *ISEA BOARD ELECTIONS * CANDIDATE PROFILES * ELECTION BALLOT * ************************** ISEA BOARD ELECTIONS ************************** (French: Des contraintes de temps ne nous permettent malheureusement pas de fournir une version française de ce document. Pour toute question ou commentaire, n'hésitez pas à communiquer avec nous : isea@isea.qc.ca Nous vous remercions de votre compréhension.) In the following pages you will find biographical and professional details on candidates for the ISEA Board of Directors. We are extremely honoured to have such a prestitgious and diverse roster of nominees. We thank all candidates for their interest in participating in ISEA. There are TWO NEW POSITIONS available on the ISEA Board of Directors. We asked each nominee to outline their past involvement in the electronic arts, describe how their nomination would benefit ISEA's membership, and to indentify specific concerns or plans regarding ISEA. We have also reprinted information on the tasks and mandate of the Board of Directors, and the official mission of ISEA. Please carefully read through this information and the candidate details, then select the TWO CANDIDATES you most feel would bring vision, dynamism, and a committment to forwarding the goals and mission of ISEA. You may submit your ballot by fax, post, or email. Deadline is OCTOBER 15, 2000. * Institutional Members have 3 memberships and therefore are entitled to 3 votes. Remember as members this is your opportunity to be a part of shaping the future development of ISEA. We greatly look forward to hearing from you! _______________________________________________________________________ --+ ISEA Board Structure +-- The property and business of ISEA is managed by the Board of Directors of ISEA (the Board) which is comprised of at least 5 Directors to a maximum of 9, in addition to Ex-Officio Members who are previous organizers of ISEA symposium and the Executive Director. Each Board member is elected for a term of 3 years, and may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms. Board members serve on a voluntary basis, and positions are not remunerated. __________________________________________________________________ --+ Indication of Board Member Tasks and Terms +-- o Board members should act in the best interest of the ISEA network and its membership. o Board members shall collaboratively and actively promote and shape the future development of ISEA o Board members should promote creative and interdisciplinary convergences between art practice and technological developments. o The Board chooses the host organizations of future ISEA Symposia. o The Board appoints members to the Cultural Diversity and International Advisory Committees. o The Board and ISEA HQ shall keep regular contact by holding on-line meetings every 2 months to help manage, plan and develop ISEA. __________________________________________________________________ --+ ISEA's Mandate +-- Founded in the Netherlands in 1990, and now based in Montreal, Canada, ISEA is an international non-profit member organization dedicated to the promotion and development of the electronic arts. ISEA is commited to the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural communication/cooperation between the arts and the fields of technology, science, education, and industry. ISEA's activities include: organizing international symposia and local events, developing partnerships, implementing culturally diverse initiatives, publishing, and archiving. ************************** CANDIDATE PROFILES ************************** --+ PETER ANDERS +-- USA ptr@mindspace.net Peter Anders is an architect and information design theorist. He has published widely on the architecture of cyberspace and wrote a book entitled Envisionning Cyberspace which presents design principles for 0n-line spatial environments. The book was published by McGraw Hill in 1998. Anders received his degrees from the University of Michigan (B.S.1976) and Columbia University (M.A.1982). He is currently a fellow of the University of Plymouth CAiiA-STAR program. He was a principle in an architechtural firm in New York City until 1994 when he formed MindSpace.net, an architechtural practice specializing in media/information environments. He has received numerous design awards for his work and has taught graduate level design studios and computer aided design at the University of Michigan. His work has been featured in professional journals and he has presented his research on the architecture of cyberspace in several venues including The New York Architectural League, Xerox PARC, ISEA, CAiiA, Cyberconf, ACADIA, AEC, ACM-Multimedia, InterSymp and the World Future Society. HOW WILL YOUR NOMINATION BENEFIT ISEA AND ITS MEMBERSHIP? As ISEA's mission is to promote the integration of technology and culture, I propose to widen its appeal too creators in both arts and tchnologies. The development of electronic culture will not come from one field alone. Instead, it will be formed by exponents of each discipline who grasp and utilize the strength of now-pervasive technologies. No field can be excluded. The danger of disciplinary isolation lies in self-marginalization and an ignorance of the perspectives offered by other disciplines. In these rapidly changing times interdisciplinary dialog is no longer a luxury, it is crucial to survival. |SEA is a site for such a dialog. As a member of ISEA's steering committee I will bring applied design and architecture into the discussion. As a concurrent Steering Commitee member of ACADIA (Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture) I will seek opportunities for collaboration and dialog between the two internatioal organizations. I believe ISEA and ACADIA both will benefit from the exchange. I have previously had great success directing public discussions between artists, scientists, architects, historians, musicians and philosophers. As a Steering Committee member I will bring more of these dialogs to ISEA, and propose opening the doors to those who- while not artists themselves- may have much to learn an contribute to ISEA's mission. PAST INVOLVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF ELECTRONIC ART Earlier this year, at the suggestion of Katarina Soukup, I directed an on-line discussion on ISEA's Chatterbox. This session- on the subject of information and architecture- was a follow-up to a panel discussion I formed at the ACADIA annual conference in 1999. I was very pleased by the active participation of ISEA members. The quality of the postings was very high and led to the stimulating dialog lasting several weeks. Currently, I am a fellow in the CAiiA-STAR Ph.D.program at Plymouth University in the U.K. The focus of my research over the past few years has been on the relationship between physical and electronic space. This was the subject of a book I wrote, Envisioning Cyberspace, published by McGraw Hill in 1998. The book features an international array of artists, architects, designers and technologists. My Ph.D. thesis pursues the implications of augmented reality for our use of space and our relationship with the world. In addition to my book, I have published papers on information technology and design since 1994 in refereed journals and conference proceedings. In my practice of architecture and design, I have pioneered the use of computers as design media (CAD), and as cultural machines (cyberspace, Internet). I have presented on these matters at ISEA, ACADIA, SIGRADI, CAiiA, Xerox PARC among other venues. PLEASE LIST 3 CONCERNS OR PLANS YOU HAVE REGARDING ISEA 1. Community As stated above, the inclusion of a variety of fields -arts-sciences, design- in ISEA's activities will lead to a stimulating dialog and enrich all parties. I believe strongly that a heterogenous mix will produce a more robust and relevant organization ready to meet future challenges. 2. Leadership One of these challenges is being faced by ACADIA, another organization that stresses the integration of technology with design. What happens when such organizations have achieved their goals? In architecture, for example, computers are prevalent even in the most design-oriented university programs. ACADIA, formed in 1980, was crucial to this development, but the need for its original mission --to bring computation to the practice of architecture- has abated. Culture has caught up. 3. Trust ISEA can play an important role in protecting artists' rights with regards to intellectual property. This is of clear concern for artists whose work is done in electronic media, where copying and distribution offer no barriers to unauthorized use. This is an important matter for ISEA to address in coming years. I believe that the evolution of ISEA will require such trust-building mechanisms to encourage collaboration and interdisciplinary dialog among its constituents. --+ BRENDA CLENIUK +-- Canada neutralground@accesscomm.ca Brenda has been an arts administrator working in the visual arts since 1993 and in 996 co-founded the Soil Digital Media Suite at Neutral Ground artist-run centre. She holds undergraduate degrees in literature, psychology, Fine Art (art history) and has received formal training in performaing arts disciplines. She has collaborated in performance works and co-curated or produced several multi-disciplinary, international projects for Neutral Ground. The centre has supported her professional development at the National Gallery of Canada, in project management and elsewhere in administration and management accounting. HOW WILL YOUR NOMINATION BENEFIT ISEA AND ITS MEMBERSHIP? Primarily in terms of represrnting a regionally and culturally diverse part of the Canadian West. My intention is to support and extend the services and goals of ISEA to appropriate members and groups in Saskatchewan and other mid-western contacts and to address the currant need the Canadian new memedia art scene as a network and interface between many kinds of resources and creators and as a bridge to the international milieu. Further, I wish to extend the impact of ISEA as a support and context for new media work and research carried forward in its policies of inclusive leadership primarily through the creation of professional development opportunities for emergent, new media artists and presenters in this region.The geographic isolation of Saskatchewan is a difficult issue to work with in the professional arts. ISEA has made inroads towards overcoming or meeting the many diverse challenges. ISEA has been proactive and supportive towards the inclusion of prairie and First Nations artists in its panel presentations and communications conducted by their conference curators and professional staff. I would act in the best interests of ISEA to accomplish continued work in this complex and meaningful area. While artists-centres are crucial to the arts community in Canada, what new media artsit need, in addition to what infrastructure and support currently exists, is a network organization able to establish contexts for communicating, opportunities for exchange of knowledge and axpetise, consolidation of funding opportunities, collaborations and partnerships, sponsoring of creative residencies, initiation of mentorship, publicizing calls for projects and other distribution opportunities, and other vital services. This type of network for new media is currently lacking in Canada. ISEA has created the foundation for this work and, in addition, has introduced the idea of transdisciplinary research into new media practices, brokered international partnerships and is uniquely positioned to respond to the needs of the new media community for future work so crucial to the arts, sciences and humanities. OUTLINE YOUR PAST INVOLVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF ELECTRONIC ARTS My involvement in electronic art has primarily been as a presenter through the Soil Digital Media Suite where I am the Director. I am also the main programmer of Soil's artistic events. Upcoming and proposed projects include multi-active performances using the gallery space or alternative locations for the presentation of digital and computer based projects. I am uniquely positioned at Neutral Ground to respond to research in multidisciplinary strategies and techniques or convergence. Other professional objectives for Soil include establishment of a permanent infrastructure and securing a stable and core funding base. I have also planned a complete redesign of the Web site with design artists working under contract. As an independent art researcher, my interests in the news media arts intersects with research in the liberal arts and humanities and corresponds to socio-cultural themes investigating the interrelationship between technology and the body; the nature of the world wide web and the potential of accessing cyber space for the betterment of the imagination and its use in concept formation, identity, revelation, and interrelationship between culturally disparate groups. PLEASE LIST 3 CONCERNS/PLANS YOU HAVE REGARDING ISEA: 1. adequte pan-canadian representation and participation. 2. Maintaining a distinct mandate and role in relation to other media and new media art service organizations or networks in Canada and re: funding. 3. Realistic and uncompromising commitment to culturally diverse groups and individuals in an international context. --+ ALBERTO GAITAN +-- USA alberto@null.net Alberto Gaitan is a composer/programmer living in Arlington, Virginia. He grew up abroad and has studied music theory, composition, photography, video production, computer programming, and biology, drawing from this varied background for his work. Gaitan has pursued ways to integrate different media and modes of collaboration, leading him to create works for video, slide projection, photography, installation, and ensemble performance. As an advocate for, and a participant in, the Washington DC metropolitan area arts scene, he has served on the boards of its principal alternative art spaces and has sat in local peer-review panels. Working since 1985 with multidisciplinary group Art Attack International, Gaitan has worked around the USA and in Europe. He is a founder of the multimedia ensemble, selforganizingsystem, and of electro-acoustic ensemble, SLUR. He has served on the National Endowment for the Arts' New Forms panel, and lectured at The Corcoran College of Art & Design, Georgetown University, George Mason University, University of Florida, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He taught Computer Music at the Smithsonian Institution, and lectures nationally on the collaborative process with Art Attack. He has designed and maintained computer-based installations at The Kennedy Center, Techworld, Corcoran Gallery of Art, and Washington Project for the Arts. His publication credits include contributions to "Jamming the Media: A Culture Jammer's Handbook," "The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog," "The Washington Post," "Wired" magazine, and "Kunstforum." He has been commissioned by Arlington County to create a permanent sound installation at the site of the County seat. HOW WILL YOUR NOMINATION BENEFIT ISEA AND ITS MEMBERSHIP? I played the guitar for 12 years before having to abandon it, mid-study, during college, due to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. It was the hardest thing that I had ever had to do. What followed was a three-year hiatus from art during which time I was very depressed and disillusioned. I utilized that time to get a degree in biology, concentrating in evolution. I soon realized that what I wanted to do with biology would've been just as impossible for me as playing my guitar: not an uplifting realization but I had to adapt. At about that time, microcomputers were beginning to make inroads into the consumer market and I decided that I'd learn about them so that I could have them play my music. So it was that I found a tool that let me express myself creatively, virtually without regard for my physical aptitude. That was 23 years ago and I have not stopped being amazed at the prosthetic power that the electronic arts have to help those who cannot play instruments traditionally because of a physical barrier, or who have large scale or completely novel ideas which not informed by previous experiences with physical virtuosity. I want to help ISEA with its diversity outreach programs and want to help it communicate and foment an understanding of the undeniable impact that the electronic arts have in the lives of physically challenged artists. OUTLINE YOUR PAST INVOLVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF ELECTRONIC ART I have been composing for solo and ensemble performance and for installation and sculpture for 20 years. One of the groups I founded, selforganizingsystem, has experimented with ways to create technology-mediated, cross-media interactive performance. For 5 years I curated the new music program at Washington Project for the Arts during which time I presented the work of over 30 composers/performers most of them working in the forefront of electronic art. I have used mine and others' software to control installation-based sound systems and to create my own music, and been hired by major galleries and performing arts centers and galleries to help design and maintain computer-based sound exhibits. I taught a computer-music survey course at the Smithsonian Institution. PLEASE LIST 3 CONCERNS/PLANS YOU HAVE REGARDING ISEA 1. To help assess the extent of ISEA's physically challenged constituency. 2. To help assess what this constituency needs from ISEA. 3. To help assess how well ISEA is serving this constituency's needs and how these needs might evolve in the future. --+ MARINA GRIZINIC +-- Slovenia margrz@zrc-sazu.si Marina Grzinic is doctor of philosophy and works as a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy at the ZRC SAZU (Scientific and REsearch Center of the Slovenian Academy of Science and Art ) in Ljubljana. She also works as a freelance media theorist, art critic and curator. Marina Grzinic has been involved with video art since 1982. In collaboration with Aina Smid she has produced more than 30 video art projects, a short film, numerous video and media installations, Internet websites and an interactive CD-ROM (ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany). Marina Grzinic has published hundreds of articles and essays and 5 books, including In a Line for Virtual Bread. Time, Space the Suject and New Media in a Year 2000, Ljubljana 1996 and Zagreb 1999. In the year 2000 two of her essays were published, one for MIT Press and the other for Ablex Company : Grzinic, "Exposure Time, the Aura, and telerobotics" in The Robot in the Garden: Telerobotics and Telepistemology in the Age of the Internet, ed. Ken Goldberg (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000) and Grzinic, "Strategies of Visualisation and the Aesthetics of Video in the New Europe" in Culture and Technology in the New Europe : Civic Discourse in Transformation in Post-Communist Nations, ed. Laura Lenegel (London : Ablex Publishing Company, 2000). Her last book is FICTION RECONSTRUCTED EASTERN EUROPE' POST-SOCIALISM and THE RETRO-AVANT-GARDE (Vienne : Editione SELENE in collaboration with Springerin, Vienna, 2000) HOW WILL YOUR NOMINATION BENEFIT ISEA AND ITS MEMBERSHIP? My involvment can be fruitful in participating names and organizations that are part from Eastern Europe. Briefly outline your past involvement in the field of Electronic Art I am an active artist and theorician for 20 years! PLEASE LIST 3 CONCERNS/PLANS YOU HAVE REGARDING ISEA Much more involvment of 1. Women artists/researchers 2. More theoretical connections and theory critical research 3. New worries out of the pure Western World! --+ HEATHER HEALEY +-- Canada hshaley@emspace.com Heather Haley is a freelance write/editor, Web author and medi poet. She was employed for many years as a staff editor and writer for the L.A. Weekly before returning to Vancouver in 1993. Haley also published Ratller, a critically acclaimed multimedia arts and literary journal. Her work has appeared in numerous North American publications, including the Antigonish Review, the Coe Review, Northern Lights, thr Literary Storefront, sub-TERRAIN, Treeline, On The Bus, Catalyst, Heresie, High Performance, Verb and the Manic D Press anthology, The Vedict Is In. She has performed at the Vancouver Presss Club, Black Sheep Books, the Kootenay School of Writing and the Word on the Street Festival. Ms. Haley is the founder and Executive Director of the Edgewise ElectroLit Centre which produces the live, interactive TELEPOETICS reading series, e-zine, the Edgewise Cafe <www.edgewisecafe.org> and the Vancouver Videopoem Festival. --+ CATHERINE IKAM +-- France ikam@club-internet.fr Catherine Ikam has been known for her innovative work in video, photography and electronic sculptures exploring the concept of identity and artificiality, the notion of self and otherness in terms on relashionships beetween real space and the virtual word. Her work has been exhibited extensively at such institutions as PS1 New York, Centre Georges Pompidou, MusŽe National d'Art Moderne, Paris, Massachussets institute of technology, Cambridge, Cite des Nouvelles Technologies, Montreal, Kunstverein Bonn, Tate gallery Liverpool, Ontario Science Museum, Power Plant, Toronto. Catherine Ikam was research fellow at The Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusset's Institute Institute of Technology, author of artistic progamms for French Television. In 1980 she created an installation at the Georges Pompidou Center on the theme of identity, exploiting the various possibilities of video technology. An itinerary confronted the visitor with unexpected images of himself : A video sculpture, "Fragments d'un archetype" (a partial transposition on sixteen monitors of the Vitruvian Man drawn by Leonardo da Vinci), closed this journey through the "random chances " of self-representation (absence, repetition and fragmentation). In 1987, she was the co -author with Tod Machover of a video opera "Valis" which was produced by the Museum of Modern Art and the Institut de recherche et de coordination acoustiques et musicales for the tenth anniversary of the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris. In 1992 in collaboration with Louis Fleri, she created the interactive installation; "l'Autre" which stages the meeting between the visitor and a three-dimentional synthetised face: the visitor's movements give life to this electronic double, which adopts a range of primordial expressions. Since then , they created three interactive installations: "Le Messager", "Alex" and "Elle" in collaboration with IRCAM, Institut pour la Recherche et la Coordination Musicales, in Paris. They are currently working on a new piece "Elle et la voix" which will be presented at IRCAM/Centre Georges Pompidou in June 2000, and on a Cave project for Ars Electronica 2000 this September. Catherine Ikam was senior artist in residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada in 1999. --+ OLIA LIALINA +-- Russia/Germany olialia@teleportacia.org Born 1971 in Moscow Net artist Professor of Networks and Online Environments (Merz Academie, Stuttgart) Founder of First Real Net Art Gallery (1998) and Last Real Net Art Museum (2000). Rhizome Artbase Advisor Member of Medienforum Munchen 1996-1998 director of Moscow CINE FANTOM film club Co-organizer of CINE FANTOM festival, author of lectures HISTORY OF PARALLEL FILM. Contributing editor of 4 RUSSIAN VIDEO ART AND ALTERNATIVE VIDEO compilations more information at http://art.teleportacia.org/olia.html HOW WILL YOUR NOMINATION BENEFIT ISEA AND ITS MEMBERSHIP? I see myself as an expert in net art and art online. And I have an unique expirience and interest in organising new type of events online and offline. I guess my international connections as well as involvement into electronic art scene in Russia and Germany can be very helpful for ISEA OUTLINE YOUR PAST INVOLVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF ELECTRONIC ART I'm one of net art pioneers and the first Networking Professor in Germany PLEASE LIST 3 CONCERNS/PLANS YOU HAVE REGARDING ISEA 1. To establish a real portal for the international exchange in the field of electronic arts. 2. To organise an event or better to establish a serie or conferences focusing on new forms and practices of education in the sphere of networks and online environments. 3. To support and publicise electonic art initiatives in Russia and former Soviet States. --+ MELENTIE PANDILOVSKI +-- Republic of Macedonia misko@scaa.org.mk Melentie Pandilovski 25.02.1963 in Skopje, Macedonia, Promotes the electronic arts by holding numerous lectures and presentations at local and international symposiums. Works at: Contemporary Arts Center - Skopje, Macedonia, Director. http://www.scca.org.mk Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee of the International Symposium of Electronic Art (ISEA), Montreal, Canada Artistic Projects: Starting from 1987 (First electronic art exhibition in Macedonia) to the alternate history Internet project "Welcome Back to the Empire" (presented on ISEA '97) Selection of Curatorial Activities: SEAFair '99 - Skopje Electronic Arts Fair, e-FUSION (V.R.M.L art exhibition, symposium, workshop) Museum of the City of Skopje, Republic of Macedonia (exhibition, symposium) October 1 - 8, 1999. Hotel Granit, Ohrid - (workshop) Sept. 23 - Sept. 30, 1999 Artists&Refugees - group exhibition Museum of the City of Skopje July 23 - September 1, 1999 SEAFair 98 - Skopje Electronic Arts Fair, Communing (V.R., Net-Linked, WWW, CD ROM art exhibition) Skopje Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, October 2-9, 1998 SEAFair 97 - Skopje Electronic Arts Fair, Altering Visions on the Net (internet art exhibition) Skopje Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, May 24- 30, 1997 Laika the True Story, within the frame of Refresh, Web Page Design Project of 20 International Centers, October 1996 Coordinator: BAN - Balkan Art Network, with more than 30 art institutions as members from the region of South East Europe, created on the "Initial conference on reconstructing the cultural production in the Balkans" Sarajevo BIH 02.-04. December 1999 http://zayac.scca.org.mk/ban/ 1999 The Meta Balkan Assembly, http://zayac.scca.org.mk/metaba Member of Jury/Program Committee on International Exhibitions: September, 2000, Film Festival, Split, Croatia January, 2000 VRML Art, Vienna, Austria 1997 - 2000 SEAFair '97, '98, '99, 2000 - Skopje Electronic Arts Fair Skopje, Republic of Macedonia August, 1995, VideoHart, Sofia Bulgaria Selected Lectures on International Conferences: February, 2000 On Modes of Consciousness(es) and Electronic Culture University of California at La Jolla, San Diego, USA November, 1999 Electronic Culture, Kyiv, Ukraine May, 1999 Computer Arts, Kishenev, Moldova March, 1996 Interactivity - Simultaneous two-sided motion on the Symposium Interactivity - Fine-Arts Category?, Skopje, Macedonia. November, 1995 Current Issues in the Electronic Arts on the Symposium How it all began in videoart and cyberspace, Sofia, Bulgaria. HOW WILL YOUR NOMINATION BENEFIT ISEA AND ITS MEMBERSHIP - I believe that I can involve vastly the artists from a less represented and yet active regions such as SouthEast Europe. I also believe that this will work both ways so that I can bring their sensibility into ISEA. This process can be mutually funded by grants from ISEA and the regional organizations. This process comprehends encouraging of new curating and exhibiting strategies. - More intensive involvement of the Balkan Art Network and other Networks into the programs of ISEA. - Another important point is that CAC - Skopje has been contacting ISEA regarding a possible organization of an ISEA Conference in Skopje, Macedonia. I believe that my presence in the ISEA Board may open up some processes and may benefit with the realization of this quite important task for us. Further on I believe that I will be able to identify specific programs in the region and wider that could become ISEA projects. - An important step could be the transfer of redundant technology to the artists in the regions which do not have access to it (or not enough of it) such as East Europe and Africa. The actual delivery of the technology can be done by different NGO's working in the region. OUTLINE YOUR PAST INVOLVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF ELECTRONIC ART I have started off as an artist and have presented the first electronic art installation in Macedonia in February, 1987, in the Youth Culture Center in Skopje. As an artist I have also been present on ISEA '97 in Chicago with my Internet project "Welcome Back to the Empire". In the area of organizing events it is important to note that I have planned and have been the assistant curator of Image Box, the first collective media art exhibition in Macedonia and the region. As far as CD-ROM is concerned I have co-curated the first CD-ROM on the Balkans "Icon on Silver". Regarding Net projects I have curated Laika the True Story, within the frame of Refresh, Web Page Design Project of 20 International Centers, October 1996. As far as the organization of Festivals I have organized the the Skopje Electronic Arts Fair, 1997 - 2000. PLEASE LIST 3 CONCERNS OR PLANS YOU HAVE REGARDING ISEA 1. Working and experimenting with the high peaks in the eletronic art practice. 2. A wide geographical representation of artists as well as of ISEA Conferences, including the organizing of ISEA in South-East Europe. 3.Professionalism in the work --+ NIRANJAN RAJAH +-- Malaysia niranjan@faca.unimas.my Niranjan Rajah was born in Jaffna Sri Lanka in 1969. He grew up in Kuala Lumpur and is a Malaysian citizen. He is an electronic artist, a new media theorist, a curator and Historian of Southeast Asian Art and an educator. Niranjan holds a B.Sc. (Hons) Economics from Queen Mary College, University of London; a Post-Graduate Diploma in Law, University of Westminster and an MA Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, University of London. He has lectured at the Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak since June 1995 and have been instrumental in shaping the Faculty's curriculum and strategizing its response to technological and market developments. The Faculty was founded 1994 and is, today, a regional leader in the integration of studio techniques, technology, theory and management (for a review of work from the Faculty please go to (http://www.maap.org.au/maap2000/aapo/index.htm). Niranjan has served on the Malaysian National Art Gallery's Planning and Acquisitions Committee (1996-97) and has curated and co-curated national and international exhibitions, including 'Gema: Resonance' (Manes Gallery, Prague, 1998) and the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial' (Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, 1999). His writings on art have been published extensively (for a recent example go to http://www.maap.org.au/maap2000/aapo/index.htm) For a full CV please go to http://virtual borneo.com/niranjan/ HOW WILL YOUR NOMINATION BENEFIT ISEA AND ITS MEMBERSHIP? I will bring to the ISEA Board a passion for electronic art, an appetite for critical engagement, a temperament for team work and a truly international vision for electronic art in an age of globalization. Having practiced as a minority artist at the heart of the London art scene in the 1980's, I am aware of the issues of representation and diversity in the Developed countries of the West. As an artist and theorist from Malaysia operating in the highly US/Euro-centric 'International' Electronic Art community I am also familiar with the impact of the so called 'digital divide' on the aspirations of electronic artists from the developing world. As I said from the floor at the extremely heated plenary of ISEA96, the problem of representation is very different for minority practitioners from the developed world and for those of us from Asia, Africa and the rest of the developing world. Diversity is not simply a question of equity or opportunity. Indeed, it is a question of quality. As I remember the plenary it was argued that nothing must be allowed to get in the way of the quality of technological and artistic engagement in ISEA. In fact, even those with rudimentary technological prowess can make great art. More significantly, diverse representation will enrich ISEA with the different political, cultural and even metaphysical perspectives and expirences it will bring. I will help ISEA address the complex ethical, institutional, logistical andfinancial problems involved in achieving diversity. OUTLINE YOUR PAST INVOLVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF ELECTRONIC ART Niranjan has been using the Internet as a medium for art since 1996 (his art sites include 'The Failure of Marcel Duchamp/ Japanese Fetish Even!' at http://www.hgb-leipzig.de/waterfall/ and 'La folie de la Peinture' at http://www.kunstseiten.de/installation/). He co-curated Malaysia's 1st Electronic Art Show' (National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, 1997). He is co-founder of 'Eart ASEAN On-line' - E-Art ASEAN Online - A networking hub for electronic art in Southeast Asia. This site consists of a comprehensive Database of new media art, a Journal, a Forum and a space for developing and hosting web art (at http://www.freespeech.org/eartasean/). He was on the IPC for ISEA98 and is on the IPC for 'ISEA2000'. He chaired a Session titled 'Art in an Age of Borderless Instantaneous Transactions: A Critique' at the Annual Conference of the College Arts Association (Los Angeles, 1999). He was on the International Advisory Panel of the 'Virtual Triennial/ Screen Culture' component of the Third Asia-Pacific Triennial (Queensland Art Gallery, 1999). Niranjan was Keynote Speaker at the 'Collapsing Geographies Forum', 2nd Multimedia Art Asia Pacific Festival (Brisbane, 1999). Niranjan is currently doctoral researcher at CAiiA-STAR where he is investigating the relationships between traditional metaphysics and the new ontology engendered by digital technology. Since 1996 he has regularly presented papers at ISEA, Consciousness Reframed (CAiiA- STAR) and INET (Internet Society). He was recently a guest speaker at Michael Heim's Cyberforum@ArtCentre. (access the log at http://www.mheim.com/cyberforum/html/archive.html). He will be a visiting Scholar at the Department of Design/ Media Arts, UCLA (April-June 2001). 4. Please list 3 concerns/plans you have regarding ISEA scholar at the Department of Design/Media Arts, UCLA (April -June 2001) PLEASE LIST 3 CONCERNS/PLANS YOU HAVE REGARDING ISEA 1. The question of Diversity 2. The question of Diversity ! 3. The question of Diversity- making the I in ISEA come true! --+ MIKE STUBBS +-- UK stubbs@easynet.co.uk Mike Stubbs is senior research resident at Duncan of Jordonstone College of Art at Dundee University working as a film maker/artist. He studied at Cardiff and The Royal College of Art. Encompassing film, video, mixed media installations and performance, his work has been commissioned across Britain and broadcast internationally, in 1999 he presented a video retrospective at the the Tate Gallery, London. Contortions a 16mm drama film won many awards between1986-8 and was shown on BBC Wales. Installation Desert Island Dread was commissioned by Video Positive in 1989 and Bedtime Stories: Highlights >From The Gulf War was commissioned by Manchester City Art Gallery in 1991. Short film, Sweatlodge won the Golden Artronic at the Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland, has been shown on TV stations all around the world. Performance Prontawipe was highlighted in the Quick Festival at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Homing a 35mm film commissioned by the British Film Institute won a 1st prize at Oberhausen Short Film Festival, 1st prize at Graz Film and Architecture Festival in 1995 and was transmitted on Channel 4 TV in June. Man Act a short performance TV piece in collaboration with Man Act and Gift a collaboration with composer Ulf Langheinrich and Roland Denning was commissioned by BBC 2 and The Arts Council (transmitted in 1996). Residencies include Preema Arts Centre in November 95, new internet performance with Heath Bunting, Medien Werkstatt Vienna, where he worked with Granular Synthesis and a photographic project at EKLSIA, Gumusluk, Turkey. As director of Hull Time Based Arts he commissioned over 250 artists for public exposition, established the ROOT Festival and has developed and managed a new Media Centre for Hull, TimeBase, as part of Hull's cultural quarter development. Videotage recently invited him to curate a CDRom exhibition for Microwave Festival 2000 in Hong Kong and new media programmes for Seafair in Macedonia and programming a new fesival for Kiev in the Ukraine. He recently finished a short film Resistor for BBC 2 and the in collaboration with Dutch dancers Maria Voortman and Roberto De Jonge which is due for tranismission later this year. Recent commissions include a new film set in Bedford working with car cruisers for Eastern Arts Board and has been awarded a 'Brilliant' commission to make a Cinematic Installation for Yorkshire. HOW WILL YOUR NOMINATION BENEFIT ISEA AND ITS MEMBERSHIP? Would like to bring a wide range of experience form perspective of artist, curator and cultural entrepreneur to the board. Having built up and worked for Hull time Based Arts a secondary co-operative with an active membership, I hope I could bring useful skills in blending democratic processess with professional business practice. Working in a city which has some of the worst social and economic problems in the UK has also given me a deep understanding of the needs of people in the context of community education and this has forced innovative pracitices in the promotions of electronic art and access to production and exhibition. OUTLINE YOUR PAST INVOLVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF ELECTRONIC ART Senior Research Resident at Dundee University, dept of Television Imaging Artist with new technology experience, Filmaker with broadcast and theatrical release experience (recently completed new Dance film for BBC2) Director (first employee) of Hull Time Based Arts for 13 years, Co-founder of ROOT Running Out Of Time International Festival of Time Based Arts (*since 92), Board member London Electronic Arts/LUX, Board member Photo Arts 2000, Photo 98 Year of Photography & Electronic Image, Associate curator/consultant to ISEA 98 International Society for Electronic Art in Uk Programme-curator Pandemonium Festival 98 (LEA), Consultant to Public Arts Wakefield, electronic art commission for Kirklees Media Centre Co-comissioner of Granular Synthesis with Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Le Creteil, Paris, Kunstveirin, Munich, Icebreaker, Amsterdam for 98 Champion and project manager to CEPIA (Centre for Electronic & Photographic Imaging Arts) new media art centre capital project for Hull (stage 1 feasibilty complete) Project Manager and Manager of Time Base new media art centre in re-furbed warehouse Associate member Informal European Theatre Meeting Co-director Metamedia Productions Ltd, Berwick st, London, private production/post production company Member BECTU and PACT PLEASE LIST 3 CONCERNS/PLANS YOU HAVE REGARDING ISEA 1. To increase diversity within membership 2. To improve management of the organisation and structure 3. To innovate ways of profile improvement of the organisation as a whole and its programmes --+ BILL VORN +-- Canada bill@billvorn.com Born in Montreal in 1959, I teach New Media and Interactive Arts at Concordia University (Department of Studio Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts). I was coordinator of the Digital Image/Sound Program, a joint program between the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science and the Faculty of Fine Arts. I am currently writing a Ph.D. paper on "Artificial Life as Media" at UQAM (Communication Studies, Universite du Quebec a Montreal). I work in the field of Electronic Arts on interactive robotic projects since 1992, creating "Real Noise from Artificial Life". My work has been shown in many international events: Ars Electronica, ISEA, Sonar, DEAF, Art Futura, Artec, etc. I have been working together with Louis-Philippe Demers until 1999 and now works on solo projects involving robotics, noise and interactive video. We were awarded the Life 2.0 1st prize in 1999 (Madrid), the Leprecon Award for Interactivity in 1998 (New York), and the Distinction Award at Prix Ars Electronica 96 (Linz). I have been a founding member of the electropop group Rational Youth in the early 80's. I also worked for the film industry as sound effect editor and film score composer for advertisement, radio and television. Since then, I have been working along with many canadian artists (Robert Lepage, Edouard Lock, Gilles Maheu, Franois Girard, Monty Cantsin) and received several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du QuŽbec. HOW WILL YOUR NOMINATION BENEFIT ISEA AND ITS MEMBERSHIP? As an artist working with interactive robotics since many years, my personal experience in this highly technological domain (both at the international and local levels) could certainly benefit the ISEA society. I have been part of most major events in Electronic Arts and made links with a lot of artists, curators and critiques from all over the world. As a member of the academic system, I am used to bureaucratic requirements and responsibilities and I have proven to be a very good organizer and an excellent writer regarding grant proposals for Concordia University. Finally, because I am working in Montreal, I am close to ISEA Headquarters and I could eventually be of some help locally, if needed. OUTLINE YOUR PAST INVOLVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF ELECTRONIC ART Since 1992, I have been involved with Electronic Arts at two different levels: as a teacher and as an artist. I teached sound design and digital sound editing for several years at UQAM and I am now teaching interactive arts at Concordia University. As artist, my most important works are: The Trial, a robotic performance, 1999 La Cour des Miracles, an interactive robotic installation, 1997 Evil/Live, an interactive sound and light installation, 1997 No Man's Land, an interactive robotic installation, 1997 The Frenchman Lake, an interactive robotic installation, 1995 Espace Vectoriel, an interactive robotic installation, 1993 I've been showing these works in many international places and events: V2_Organisatie (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), 1999 IndustrieProjekt festival (Br—’é, Germany), 1999 Museum of Soissons (Soissons, France), 1999 Musiques en Scène, MCA of Lyon (Lyon, France), 1999 Museum of Contemporary Art of Montreal, 1998 Sonar'98 festival / Off-Sonic (Barcelona, Spain), 1998 Art Rock'98 festival (Saint-Brieuc, France), 1998 Lightforms'98 (NYC, New York), 1998 ISEA'97 (Chicago, Illinois), 1997 Artec'97 Biennale (Nagoya, Japan), 1997 Art Futura'96 (Madrid, Spain), 1996 DEAF'96 (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), 1996 Ars Electronica'96 festival (Linz, Austria), 1996 Sonambiente'96 festival (Berlin, Germany), 1996 ISEA'95 (Montreal), 1995 Images du Futur '95 (Montreal), 1995 Palomar (Montreal), 1994 Sonar'94 festival (Barcelona, Spain), 1994 EMAF '93 festival (Osnabruck, Germany), 1993 Siggraph'93 Machine Culture Art Show (Anaheim,California), 1993 PLEASE LIST 3 CONCERN OR PLANS YOU HAVE REGARDING ISEA 1. Along with the ISEA symposium/exhibition, I would suggest to create an international competition (an ISEA award competition) similar to the Prix Ars Electronica (without the huge amount of money they give away, of course) but with all members of ISEA as juries, instead of a small group of selected people. The goal of this competition would not be to create preferences or elitism but to promote the works of the electronic artists in general. This could be sort of an electronic voting, each work being judged from their web site (including pictures, sound, video, etc) and each ISEA member voting by email. Or this could be a real life but narrower voting, each work being judge during ISEA exhibitions by present ISEA members. 2. In order to help the teaching of Electronic Arts in most schools and universities around the world, I propose that ISEA should publish a DVD compilation (or a series of DVDs based on different themes) of artists works. Usually, unless you get videotapes from the artists themselves, it is quite difficult to find a well documented source of visuals when it is time to present an overview of Electronic Arts in class. It would also be a very good way to promote the artists and their works outside school, and to increase ISEA's recognition as a promoter of this particular kind of work. 3. Finally, I suggest the creation of an annual (or biannual) magazine. In opposition to Leonardo, which concentrates on articles and papers, this magazine could offer like a roundup of what is going on currently in the area of Electronic Arts, in terms of exhibitions, works, projects, etc. With lots of color pictures, this magazine could also be seen as a visual reference document or an art catalog. ************************** ELECTION BALLOT ************************** Please select 2 candidates. Your vote will be invalid if less or more are chosen Nominees for ISEA board members are: (listed in alphabetical order) ____ Peter Anders (USA) ____ Brenda Cleniuk (Canada) ____ Alberto Gaitan (USA) ____ Marina Grzinic (Slovenia) ____ Heather Haley (Canada) ____ Catherine Ikam (France) ____ Olia Lialina (Russia /Germany ) ____ Melentie Pandilovski (Slovenia) ____ Niranjan Rajah (Malaysia) ____ Mike Stubbs (UK) ____ Bill Vorn (Canada) SEND YOUR BALLOT TO ISEA HQ Postal submission: 3530 St-Laurent, #305 Montreal (Quebec) Canada H2X 2V1 Fax submission: +1(514) 847-8834 Email submission: isea@isea.qc.ca Info Tel.:+1(514) 847-8912 URL: www.isea.qc.ca DEADLINE FOR BALLOTS: 15 OCTOBER 2000 ***************************************** Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts 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 ********************* ISEA2000 ************** 7.12 - 10.12, 2000 / Paris, France / www.art3000.com