THE INTER-SOCIETY FOR THE ELECTRONIC ARTS
ISEA NEWSLETTER
ISSN1488-3635
#83 September - October 2001
_______________________________________________________________
* CONTENTS *
* Editorial * ISEA@Ars Electronica * ISEA Members to Receive fAf *
SIGGRAPH 2001 Reports * SIGGRAPH ART TALKS *
In separate attachment:
* Conferences/Symposia/Workshops/Festivals * Exhibitions * Jobs *
Calls * Lists/URLs/Newsletters *
_______________________________________________________________
*****
*Editorial*
by Wim van der Plas
Recently two ISEA meetings took place, one in August at Siggraph in
Los Angeles, USA and another in September at Ars Electronica in Linz,
Austria. Reports are included in this Newsletter. We like to thank
both Siggraph and Ars for giving us the opportunity to hold these
meetings and facilitate them.
Highlights of the meetings in L.A. and Linz were the presentations on
ISEA2002 in Nagoya and ISEA2004 in Scandinavia. ISEA2002 announced
the launch of their new site: http://www.isea.jp. Please note that
the Call for Papers and Participation for ISEA2002 is still to be
finalized, but will appear very soon. ISEA2004 will be called
ISEA@SEA. We will inform you about the details in the near future.
As you are probably aware, we have strengthened our ties with fine
Art forum and all ISEA members now automatically receive their
monthly newsletter. This is a continuation of our ongoing cooperation
with fAf, which we have had since the beginning when they hosted our
ISEA Newsletter archive. To stress the importance of this
cooperation, we are publishing the same text here as the text which
appeared in the September issue of fAf. Cooperation is, after all,
the primary goal of ISEA.
Work on our newly designed web site continues and soon it will have
the complete functionality of the old site. Much of the site,
including our introduction, is now in French, Spanish, Portugese and
Japanese in addition to English. This is due to the efforts of the
Cultural Diversity Committee and a number of volunteers. Any one who
is willing to add to our tranlsations should contact the HQ or
Cynthia Beth Rubin (cbrubin@brainiac.com).
We are planning to move the site to a new host in the near future.
Until now, the site was hosted by SAT in Montreal. The move to a new
server will be accompanied by a change of domain name. Of course we
will keep you informed about this. In the mean time, we thank SAT for
their support.
As previously announced, the administrative center of ISEA, 'ISEA HQ'
is now run as a student project at the Media Technology department of
the Utrecht College (or, if you are English: Utrecht Polytechnic) in
the Netherlands. Until recently the HQ was managed by quite a large
number of students that each one had little time to devote. This was
a temporary and not very satisfying arrangement. As off September 1,
however, we have a team of two 3rd year students who work full time
at ISEA HQ, Madris Duric (madris@isea.qc.ca) and Milo Patiniott
(milo@isea.qc.ca). Media Technology has provided them with a new
room, computer equipment and a telephone (++31-33-4228923). We are
seeing daily improvements in HQ's functioning and we trust the level
of HQ will soon have the same professional status as the old Montreal
HQ. We thank Media Technology for their trust and support in making
this possible.
We like to inform you that both the ISEA board and the ISEA
committees (Cultural Diversity and International Advisory) are more
active than ever. If you want to be involved, or if you have
questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact us at
isea@isea.qc.ca.
*****
*ISEA@Ars Electronica*
by Nina Czegledy
On Wednesday, September 5, 2001 at 2 pm an ISEA meeting was held at
the Ars Electronica Festival in the Ars Electronica Center, Linz,
Austria.
The agenda included an update on the aims and the future of the
Inter-Society, and presentations by Mr. Motoyama and Mr. Yamada on
ISEA2002 in Nagoya, Japan and by Mare Tralla on ISEA2004 hosted by
m-cult in Sweden/Finland/Estonia.
The meeting was chaired by Nina Czegledy and Kathy Rae Huffman. About
35 people turned up - considering the busy festival schedule, this
was a notable achievement and was mostly due to Kathy's widespread
promo flyers dotting spaces everywhere at Ars.
The audience was greeted at the door by the Nagoya team, distributing
leaflets and blue japanese fans.
Together with Kathy, we briefly introduced the activities and future
symposia plans for ISEA, touching on our current transformation
period including the HQs move back to the Netherlands. Members of the
audience introduced themselves briefly and this was followed by a
comprehensive presentation by Mr. Motoyama and Mr. Yamada. The"
Nagoya Team" screened a video showing the Nagoya site and presented
their guiding concepts for ISEA2002. These included an emphasis on
diversity and special focus on Asian involvement. In addition
of program plans of a high standard, very practical information such
as assistance with reasonable housing, bursary efforts etc., were
also presented.
Mare Tralla outlined ISEA2004 plans, the various thematic events in
each participating city (Stockholm, Tallinn and Helsinki) as well as
the fabolous ferry boat ride between the cities.
We all are looking forward to the ISEA2002 and ISEA2004 events!
Nina Czegledy
chair, ISEA
*****
*ISEA Members to Receive fAf*
by Nina Czegledy
(published in fine Art forum's September issue)
The Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts (ISEA) is pleased to
announce our close collaboration with fineArt forum (fAf), the
Internet's longest running arts magazine. This September, all
ISEA members received fAf's e-mail digest.
Briefly on ISEA: Founded in the Netherlands in 1990, as an
international non-profit member organization dedicated to
promoting and developing the electronic arts. We are committed to
the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural
communication/cooperation between the arts and the fields of
technology, science, education, and industry.
At ISEA, we coordinate cooperation between all institutes,
journals, festivals, and more in the electronic arts field.
ISEA's activities include: organizing international symposia and
local events, developing partnerships, implementing culturally
diverse initiatives, publishing, and archiving.
Since early 2001, ISEA has transformed its organizational
structure and moved its headquarters from Montreal to the Media
Technology Department of the Utrecht College (Netherlands). While
re-organization of dispersed tasks is in progress, plans for our
next symposia is firming up.
For the first time, an ISEA symposium will be hosted in Asia.
Between October 27-31, 2002, ISEA2002 11th International
Symposium on Electronic Art is planned in Nagoya, Japan.
ISEA2004 will be hosted by m-cult in Scandinavia including sites
in Finland, Sweden and Estonia.
Watch for news on these events.
ISEA continues to inform its members through its independent
Newsletter. (For more information, see: http://www.isea.qc.ca)
At ISEA, we're very excited about the opportunity and are looking
forward to working closely with fineArt forum.
Nina Czegledy
Chair, ISEA board.
http://www.isea.qc.ca
*****
*SIGGRAPH 2001 Reports*
SIGGRAPH 2001, the 28th International Conference on Computer
Graphics and Interactive Techniques, was held 12 - 17 August at the
Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, California. INL includes
two reports on the art related events during this year's issue.
*THE ART GALLERY: N-SPACE*
by Dena Elisabeth Eber, N-Space Art Gallery Chair
(deber@bgnet.bgsu.edu)
Exhibition Description
"Yet I exist in the hope that these memoirs ... may find their way to
the minds of humanity in Some Dimension, and may stir up a race of
rebels who shall refuse to be confined to limited Dimensionality."
From "Flatland," Edwin Abbott, 1884
The driving force behind the SIGGRAPH 2001 Art Gallery, N-Space was
to display art that took viewers to a place where ideas and
expression were rich and artistic freedom was unconstrained by
dimension. All the work in the exhibition was in some way created
with or connected to digital technology, but the thread of the show
was content.
The more than 90 works in the exhibition encouraged the SIGGRAPH 2001
audience to become a part of the art; to explore, question, and
challenge their own interpretations and critiques. The salon style
exhibition enticed visitors to seek golden ideas embedded in the
nooks and crannies of its turn of the century decor.
The gallery showcased an even distribution of interactive
installations, digital paintings, digital images, sculptures,
performances, panels, animation, artist talks, web sites, and
interactive desktop programs.
In addition to the gallery works, the venue included ART DISCUSSIONS,
theoretical ideas surrounding digital culture, ART AND CULTURE
PAPERS, essays about new technology art, and ART TALKS, theme based
presentations by exhibiting artists. N-Space devoted a theater to
these presentations as well as the art gallery animations.
Not only were the art and culture papers published in the catalogue,
but they will also appear in full length in Leonardo, Digital
Creativity, and an MIT press volume edited by Noah Wardip-Fruin.
It was expression and representation that N-Space exhibited: art
works that were not only technically proficient and novel, but that
also went beyond the medium and into the realm of ideas, a place
where the medium acted as a conduit for the message.
A few highlights from the SIGGRAPH 2001 Art Gallery:
Protrude, Flow (Installation) Sachiko Kodama, University of
Electronic Communications "Protude, Flow" uses magnetic fluid, sound,
and moving images. Affected by the sounds and spectators' voices in
the exhibition space, the 3D patterns of magnetic fluid transform by
means of digital computer control, and its flowing movement and
dynamic transformations are simultaneously projected on the screen.
Of Shifting Shadows (Interactive Program) Gita Hashemi, Exisle
Creations A tale of three fictional women who experienced the 1979
Iranian Revolution.
An exploration in the non-linear movement of memory, this interactive
narrative captures three intense lives at critical points in their
individual existence. It attempts to recover the voices muted in the
narrations of history and national identity.
CollageMachine: A Streaming Collage Browser Learns While You Surf
(Web site) Andruid Kerne, Creating Media/Tufts University
"CollageMachine" is an information visualization browser that
proactively pulls interesting content. "CollageMachine" alters the
granularity of browsing. It downloads documents and decomposes them
into media elements - images and checks of text - which stream into a
collage. The user can rearrange the collage interactively. An agent
models her interests.
Don't Say Goodbye (Variation 1 & 2) (Images) Leslie Nobler-Farbe,
William Paterson University This work deals with the interplay
between the real world and the abstract, where the artist tries to
synthesize a connection between them, partially explaining the key
imagery. Also metaphorically, the key expresses the psychological
states of locking doors (saying goodbye) and alludes to the mystery
of opening passageways - discovering what awaits.
Proximal Actuator (Sculpture) Jesse Hemminger, The Ohio State
University "Proximal Actuator" is a metaphor for modern society's
technologically mediated interconnectedness. Our fingers are both
actuators and meiators of many forms of communication. The viewer's
fingers set off chain reactions, bringing the piece to life.
"Proximal Actuator" falls silent when there is no interaction. This
reflects the reality of relationships.
VR Keith 2.0 (Performance ) Keith Roberson, Florida State University
"VR Keith 2.0" explores the interface between interaction,
performance, and avatars. Using comedy, irony, and cheesy quotes from
cultural theorists, etc., "VR Keith" interacts with the gallery
audience in a direct fashion.
"VR Keith" argues how much better virtual and robotic humans are than
real ones.
Selected works will be traveling internationally for the next two
years. For more information, including a video preview and an online
gallery, see:
http://helios.siggraph.org/s2001/conference/art/index.html
Contact: Dena Elisabeth Eber, N-Space Art Gallery Chair,
deber@bgnet.bgsu.edu
*****
*SIGGRAPH ART TALKS*
by Noah Wardrip-Fruin noah@mrl.nyu.edu
member of the Art Talks jury.
This year marked a new high water mark for the ACM SIGGRAPH Art and
Culture Program.
Art and Culture Papers were presented in a an Art Gallery Theatre,
which also hosted Art Talks (talks by artists presented in the
gallery) and two special panels. The crowds were often
standing-room-only. The Art program also organized a panel in the
SIGGRAPH technical program.
Last year, for SIGGRAPH 2000, the then-new Art and Culture Papers
program accepted three essays (by Johanna Drucker, Michael Mateas,
and Eugene Thacker). This year there were 11, all of which were
printed in full in the SIGGRAPH Electronic Art and Animation Catalog.
These presentations broke new ground at SIGGRAPH, bringing together
artists, cultural critics, and technologists in a sustained
presentation and discussion of ideas and implementations. They were
scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, days that SIGGRAPH traditionally
gives to Courses, which rarely have significant art/culture content.
Because they were held in the Art Gallery Theatre, the talks were
available to anyone with the basic SIGGRAPH registration, which is a
fraction of the cost of that required for Courses or the Technical
Program, making them available to a wider range of artists and
critics.
This year's papers were:
- J. Yellowlees Douglas and Andrew Hargadon "The Pleasures of
Immersion and Engagement: Schemas, Scripts, and the Fifth
Business"
- Markku Eskelinen "Towards Computer Game Studies"
- Gonzalo Frasca "Rethinking Agency and Immersion: Videogames
as a Means of Consciousness Raising"
- Terry Harpold "Thick & Thin: 'Direct Manipulation' & The
Spatial Regimes of Human-Computer Interaction"
- N. Katherine Hayles "Metaphoric Networks in 'Lexia to Perplexia'"
- Natalie Jeremijenko "Dialogue With a Monologue: Voice Chips
and the Products of Abstract Speech"
- Michael Mateas "A Preliminary Poetics for Interactive Drama
and Games"
- Warren Sack "What Does a Very Large Scale Conversation Look Like?"
- Phoebe Sengers "Schizophrenia and Narrative in Artificial Agents"
- Edward Shanken "Art in the Information Age: Technology and
Conceptual Art"
- Victoria Vesna "notime: Identity and Collaboration"
This year's papers jury included Mark Bernstein, Johanna Drucker,
Dena Elisabeth Eber (SIGGRAPH Art Gallery Chair), Diane Gromala (2000
SIGGRAPH Art Gallery Chair), Marjorie Luesebrink, Michael Mateas,
Rebecca Ross, Phoebe Sengers, Eugene Thacker, and Noah Wardrip-Fruin
(SIGGRAPH Art Papers Chair for 2001 and 2000). Many of these papers
will also appear in -Leonardo- and a special issue of =96Digital
Creativity- edited by Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Dena Elisabeth Eber.
The Art Talks were divided into four sessions, each featuring
detailed discussions by artists of work shown in the gallery. The
first session - "Layers" - included Jessica Maloney, Tina Bell Vance,
Cynthia Beth Rubin, and James Faure Walker. The second - "Embodied
Spaces" - included Emily Blair, Diane Fenster, Tammy Knipp, and
Rejane Spitz. The third - "Moving Images" - included Michael
O'Rourke, Andruid Kerne, Michael Rodemer, and Jim Mason. The last =96
"Translastions Pictured" - included Kenneth A Huff, Philip George,
Melissa Harshman, and Ian Gwilt. Both the first and second were
chaired by Ana Ursyn, while the third and fourth were chaired by
Ellen Sandor.
Last but not least, particularly interesting this year were three
thematic panels. Paul Herz and Jack Ox organized a panel titled
"Erasing Boundaries: Intermedia Art in the Digital Age." This panel
also included Ina Blom and Andrea Polli, and explored how the
historical concept of Intermedia (as coined by Dick Higgins) could be
particularly relevant to current and future work in digital art. Noah
Wardrip-Fruin organized a panel titled "The Pixel / The Line:
Approaches to Interactive Text" which featured Nick Montfort, Bill
Seaman, Stephanie Strickland, and Camille Utterback (John Cayley,
also scheduled, couldn't make it to SIGGRAPH). This panel discussed
text, a medium too-often ignored at SIGGRAPH, and a variety of
methods for creating texts that respond meaningfully to readers.
Finally, Noah Wardrip-Fruin was also the organizer of the Art and
Culture Program's panel in the SIGGRAPH Technical Program:
"Story-Games: Simulation, Narrative, Addiction." This panel featured
JC Herz, Henry Jenkins, Janet Murray, Celia Pearce, Ken Perlin, and
Eric Zimmerman. Reportedly one of the most well-received sessions in
the entire Technical Program, this panel used examples from video
games, board games, sports, architecture, and performance, as well as
audience participation, to explore the possibilities for experiences
that overlap or combine the pleasures of stories and games.
Next year's Art Gallery Chair is Karen Sullivan. Those interested in
participating for 2002 should check out the Call for Proposals
http://www.siggraph.org/s2002/cfp/art/
***************************************************************
end of part 1 of this Newsletter
In the attachment to this Newsletter:
* Conferences/Symposia/Workshops/Festivals * Exhibitions * Jobs *
Calls * Lists/URLs/Newsletters *
****************************************************************
Editors:
Madris Duric, Milo Patiniott (ISEA HQ)
ISEA, Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts
POB 512, 3800 AM Amersfoort, Netherlands
Phone ++31-33-4228923 Fax ++31-33-4228933
isea@isea.qc.ca * http://www.isea.qc.ca
_____________________________________________________________
ISEA Board Members:
Nina Czegledy, Kathy Rae Huffman, Peter Anders,
Cynthia Beth Rubin, Bill Vorn, Atau Tanaka, Wim van der Plas,
Marina Grzinic, Niranjan Rajah
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