#056 Mar 1997

THE INTER-SOCIETY FOR THE ELECTRONIC ARTS

                        THE ISEA NEWSLETTER
                                #56 March 1997
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                ISEA, P.O. Box 508, Succ. Desjardins,
                Montreal (Qc), H5B 1B6, CANADA

                Phone: (514) 281-6543, Fax: (514) 281-6728
                Email: isea@sat.qc.ca
                URL: http://www.sat.qc.ca/isea

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ISEA Board Members: Peter Beyls, Theo Hesper, Roger Malina, Amanda McDonald
Crowley, Alain Mongeau, Simon Penny, Patricia Search, Wim van der Plas
Ex-officio Board members: Shawn Decker (ISEA97), John Hyatt (ISEA98)
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                                CONTENTS

-EDITORIAL
-ISEA NEWS
        ISEA97 UPDATE
        ISEA98 UPDATE (LEAF97)
-EVENTS
        VIDEO POSITIVE 97 : ESCAPING GRAVITY
        COSMOPOLIS: EXCAVATING INVISIBLE CITIES
        TRANSLOCATIONS
        IMPAKT FESTIVAL 1997
-CALLS
        6CYBERCONF
        ART & DESING SKETCHES FOR SIGGRAPH 97
        CONVERGENCE CALL FOR PAPERS
        CHICAGO UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL
        INTERNET AS MATERIAL AND OBJECT COMPETITION
-MISCELLANEOUS

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EDITORIAL

This newsletter is a couple of months late.  It has to do with having to
restructure the whole set-up around the new Montreal ISEA HQ.  The initial
context in which we were supposed to evolve has disappeared. We were to
take part in the rehabilitation project of the Bonsecours Market in the Old
Port of Montreal.  That projects went through a major false start last
year.  The administrators of the Market were replaced and they decided to
go all commercial.  Exit ISEA.  We moved back into the building from which
the ISEA95 symposium was orchestrated.  So please note the changes in our
phone and fax numbers - postal address remains the same.

On the other hand, the good news is that all the legal matters regarding
the installation of ISEA in Montreal are slowly being resolved and within a
year now, we'll be recognized as an International Non-Governmental
Organization (INGO). It should then help ISEA find financial resources that
will facilitate its development.

The change of office here in Montreal absorbed most of our energies.  It
proved that we needed to involve more people locally.  We're currently
forming a group of people that will help in getting things to run smoothly.

For the rest, I think ISEA is in great shape for a bright future.  We just
completed a massive emailing that allowed us to clean all our databases.
The response was more than satisfying since we now get in average about 15
messages daily.  Many people subscribed to the ISEA discussion list which
is now ripe to serve.  A few institutions are considering bidding for
ISEA99 and ISEA2000.  And, of course, we are gearing up for ISEA97 in
Chicago which is now accepting early registration.  ISEA98
Liverpool/Manchester is also right on track with LEAF97 (Liverpool East
European Electronic Arts Forum) which is presented as a sort of pre-ISEA98
event.

Alain Mongeau

*************************************************
                        ISEA NEWS
*************************************************
ISEA97 UPDATE

The ISEA97 website now includes registration forms and
instructions.  The Eighth International Symposium on Electronic Arts will
take place at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sept. 22 -27.
Students and early registrants will receive substantial discounts; please
see the ISEA97 website at:  http://www.artic.edu/~isea97 .  The first
registration deadline is April 15 -- reserve your place now as space is
limited!

=============================================
ISEA98, LIVERPOOL/MANCHESTER, SEPTEMBER 2-9, 1998

As part of VIDEO POSITIVE 97: ESCAPING GRAVITY, ISEA98 REVOLUTION is
presenting the following paving event:

LEAF 97
Liverpool East European Electonic Arts Forum
Sat 12 April 9.30am - 5.00pm
Sun 13 April 10.00am - 5.00pm
Blackburne House, Liverpool

LEAF97 takes the romantic idea of revolution and reconsiders its
implications for society/art/technology from an 'east' European
perspective.  The conference will reflect critically on  a number of new
and developing media art projects and a range of hot issues including:
* the recent re-mapping of territories in Europe and the failure of the
'information revolution' to address the complex European experience
* the cultural and ethnic diversity of the current electronic arts discourse
* the transformation and fragmentations of European identity
* the role of new Europe in the possible convergence of art and technology

LEAF97 will provide an opportunity for east/west European media artists,
thinkers and practitioners to discuss their current investigations of
visual information culture.

Chaired by LISA HASKEL (Arts Council of England), speakers include: ANDREAS
BROECKMANN (V2, Rotterdam), VUK COSIC (Ljudmila, Slovenia), NINA CZEGLEDY
(Hungary/Canada), SHAWN DECKER (ISEA97, Chicago), GEERT LOVINK (NL), TAPIO
MAKELA (Muu, Finland), IGOR MARKOVIC (Arkzin, Croatia), DRAZEN PANTIC
(Radio B92, Yugoslavia), RASA & RAITIS SMITE (E-L@b, Latvia), MIKE STUBBS
(Hull Time Based Arts, UK), JANOS SUGAR (Media Research Foundation,
Hungary).

This is an ISEA98 project for FACT, Liverpool John Moores University and
Manchester Metropolitan University.

LEAF97 is organised by Iliyana Nedkova at FACT and funded by Soros
Foundations, APEX Changes Arts Mobility Fund, Fondation Marcel Hicter,
British Council and Visiting Arts.

TICKETS: £15.00 (see the LEAF97 / COSMOPOLIS conference booking form
further below)

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                        EVENTS
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VIDEO POSITIVE 97 : ESCAPING GRAVITY
2 Cities, 12 Venues, 200 Artists
Liverpool - Manchester April 11 - May 18 1997
Festival week April 11 - 20

VIDEO POSITIVE 97 : ESCAPING GRAVITY is the UK's biggest ever festival of
video and electronic art.  Spanning two cities, a host of contemporary arts
venues and both Liverpool and Manchester's most celebrated night clubs,
VIDEO POSITIVE showcases the work of international established artists and
introduces a number of rising stars.

Organised by the Foundation for Art & Creative Technology, VIDEO POSITIVE
97 uses the theme Escaping Gravity  to take a critical look at the
relationship between artists and new technology and identify both the
attraction and dangerous momentum of new technology as we exit the
millennium.  The festival will contain over 20 installations by artists
from  the UK, USA, The Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Canada, Bulgaria,
Norway and Scotland, ranging from sophisticated interactive multimedia
pieces to raw and provocative artists' works on video.

The Bluecoat in Liverpool will stage a host of work and European premiers
by artists including Lyndal Jones (Aus), John Wood & Paul Harrison (Eng),
Roderick Buchanan (Sco), and Sera Furneaux (Eng) working in collaboration
with Common Ground Theatre.  In  Spitfire 1.2.3   Lyndal Jones explores the
sexual attraction of women to heroic male icons: a second world war pilot
spins and loops through the air as we hear the fantasies of women whispered
in our headsets.  At the Open Eye Gallery  the sensual new work of the much
acclaimed young artist duo Stephanie Smith & Edward Stewart (Sco)  Finger ,
explores the body's use as a tool of communication.  And the Hope Street
Gallery presents the UK première of Luchezar Boyadijiev's (Bul) UP and
Down, Back and Forth  offering  viewers an unrepeatable  opportunity to
join Charlie Chaplin in the opening sequence from the film classic The
Great Dictator .

Continuing its commitment to challenging the boundaries of art, VIDEO
POSITIVE  is presenting work in a number of more unusual city venues. At
Liverpool's superclub Cream David Ward's (Eng) Skater   sees a gigantic
spinning ice dancer  gracing the dance floor. In the unique setting of the
Georgian Oratory of Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral,  probably the world's
most acclaimed video artist Bill Viola will be restaging his hypnotic
Durham Cathedral installation
The Messenger.

At Cornerhouse in Manchester audiences will witness  the  explosive new
work of up and coming British artist Graham Gussin (Eng).  Produced in
collaboration with  EON Productions,  famed for the James Bond movies and
filmed at the Pinewood studios in the huge James Bond water tank, the
unsettling and deadened  tranquillity of  Fall's  landscape  threatens to
unexpectedly erupt into life.   The work of Anneè Olofsson (Swe) at
Castlefield Gallery turns a private world into a public spectacle when a
ventriloquist's dummy swaps places with the artist, spilling out untold
secrets.  At the Museum of Science and Industry  cyber culture awaits: the
cellars of the 1830 Warehouse have been transformed into a dark
cyber-forest complete with lighted paths and floodlight clearings in which
visitors can view a host of new CD-ROM artworks by international producers.
In Jon McCormack's (Aus)  Turbulence,   visitors can play God for the day,
creating new perfected life forms in a computer universe and Jane Prophet's
(Eng) Sarcophagus delves into the world of the cyborg: embedded in a
surface of microchips  a prophetic creature, combining animal and machine
emerges.    Strange animated dolls scream and whisper their secrets as they
hide in suitcases or crawl under a mattress at Manchester City Art Gallery
in the work of Tony Oursler (US).  The bric-a-bac aesthetic of Oursler's
work makes for a chaotic portrayal of American life: the flip side to the
inveterate American dream.

Complementing the exhibition programme, the festival week (11- 20 April)
sees the presentation of screening programmes at Cornerhouse; conferences,
at various Manchester and Liverpool venues; performances at Manchester's
Green Room and Liverpool's Bluecoat; club events  at the Haçienda and
Cream; CD-ROM launches and artist talks across the galleries.

For further details of Video Positive, press tickets, invitations or press
images please contact Alison Edbury or Anna Douglas on 0151 707 9522, Fax:
0151 707 2150  or e-mail at: vp@fact.co.uk

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COSMOPOLIS: EXCAVATING INVISIBLE CITIES
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Fri 18 April 2.00pm - 5.00pm
Sat 19 April 9.30am - 5.30pm
Sun 20 April 10.00am - 5.30pm

Cosmopolis takes the city of Manchester as a starting point to explore the
transition from post industrial to digital city.  When the bomb destroyed
the heart of the city last year it provided an opportunity to refocus on
what city space is.  The idea behind the confernece is that artists,
academics, politicians, architects, businesses and the city's communities
share a collective responsibility to create vibrant social and cultural
public spaces for the future.

The debates will concern how notions of the city have changed.  By
exploring the convergence between art, architecture and technology it will
discuss ways to transform our urban spaces to encourage social
responsibility and reflect cultural diversity.  It will ask the question,
does the digital age change or reaffirm our concept of the city space?

Speakers at Cosmopolis include:
Eddie Berg  - Director  Foundation for Art & Creative Technology, Liverpool
John Byrne - Writer and Senior Lecturer Contextual Studies Liverpool John
Moores University
Dave Carter -Economic Intitaives Group, Chief Executives Depatment
Manchester City Council
Bob Catterall  - Editor "City", Oxford
Janine Cirincione - Advisor to Microsoft and freelance curator/US
Cathy Cleland - Writer and Academic Autralia
Nick Crowe -  Artist, Manchester
Tim Etchells - Artist "Forced Entertainemt" Sheffield
Graham Fitkin- Composer (TBC), Cornwall
Rudolph Frieling - Video Curater ZKM , Germany (TBC)
Stella Hall - freelance curator and Writer, Manchester
Mark Lewis  - Film Maker and Course Leader Fine Art Dept Central St Martins
Graham Miller/ Mary Lemely artists (tbc)
John Montgomery - Urban Cultures/ London (TBC)
Anneke Pettican - Artist, Manchester
Lee Shostak - Archetect,  Director EDAW, London
Stewart Taylor & Lisa Lefrouve- Clone London
Nick Thompson - Architect for Bridgewater Hall, London
David Toop - Wire Magazine(TBC), London

For further details on conference spakers call Lowena Faull 0161 908 0532.

Tickets: £50.00 (£30.00 concessions)
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CONFERENCE BOOKING FORM: LEAF97 / COSMOPOLIS

If you would like to reserve a place for LEAF97 / COSMOPOLIS, please use
the form below in replying to this e-mail.

NAME:

ADDRESS:

TEL / FAX:

E-MAIL:

Please reserve me ____________ places for the LEAF97 Conference.

Please reserve me ____________ places for the COSMOPOLIS Conference.

NB. Reservations can only be held until Tuesday 1 April.
UK Residents, please send a cheque/Postal Order payable to "FACT" or call
+44 (0)151 707 9533 to pay by credit card (VISA, MASTERCARD, SWITCH, DELTA,
JCB)

Non-UK residents should make payments by acceptable credit cards (as above)
or Sterling Bankers Draft made payable in the UK to "FACT".

For further information, please call the Festival Hotline on +44 (0)151 707
9533.

=============================================
Virtual World Orchestra - www.vwo.mcg.gla.ac.uk

PARTICIPATION UPDATE

The Virtual World Orchestra (VWO) has received personal stories from
individuals in more than 160 countries!  This is a very pleasing response
to the call for participation that was sent out at the end of November.
The goal was to have stories from every country with an A-1 connection.  So
far, the only countries who really should be there (but aren't!) are
Portugal, Puerto Rico, Belize, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Columbia, and Hungary.
So, if you know someone with email in these countries, please send them
this message with the URL to check it out!

VWO has another component for world-wide participation.  You are invited to
send personal audio files...a 1-2 minute sample of typical sounds from your
neighborhood or city. You can also send a picture file that gives
information about the particular geography of your environment.  Any format
can be decoded or decompressed by the master hackers of the nva
organization, who will create soundtracks and picturescapes that combine
Glasgow sounds and images with yours. You can hear a rhythm template of the
site (http://www.vwo.mcg.gla.ac.uk/sound_ex.html). All material received
will be incorporated into the live program, projected onto a giant screen
at the mega-event in Glasgow, and simultaneously taking place as a live
Internet broadcast event, the weekend of April 4, 5 & 6.

Kathy Rae Huffman
kathy@thing.at

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TRANSLOCATIONS:
7 March - 19 April 1997.
14 March - 26 April 1997.

Curated by Displaced Data: Janice  Cheddie, Keith Piper and Derek Richards.

Recently we  have seen much excitement generated about the limitless
possibilities of digital technologies in shifting the relationships between
art, technology and society. Technologies;  which its techno-celebrants
claim,  promise the emergence of new cultural forms based on cultural
exchange, reciprocity and fusions, while simultaneously borrowing from a
plurality of cultures.  These utopian assertions are made against the
background of  continuing  social, economic and cultural inequalities which
frame the development of new art  using  these technologies. Translocations
seeks to  examine  the ways in which artists of colour are engaging with
digital technologies, against the  background of these utopian assertions
and social realities  to  explore  concepts of  movement, place and
positioning of cultures.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is Permanent Revolution Part 2, a
collaboration between Keith Piper and Derek Richards. Taking the form of a
physical interactive environment of soundscapes and projected still and
moving images, this important new work explores the role that the
convergence of migrating peoples, exchange and fusion play in cultural
change.

Culture, death, sex and health are seen as opportunities for profit in
Roshini Kempadoo's installation Lapping it Up, which looks at the
commodification of social activity. The work consists of four large scale
digitally composed images constructed to form a series of shop front
elevations. Focusing on the position of Black people within this exchange
system, Kempadoo examines the dialectic of the commodification of Black
culture alongside the increasing economic displacement of Black communities
worldwide.

The third section of the exhibition is made up of a selection of digital
prints and computer based work curated by Janice Cheddie. It includes Keith
Piper's 'Caught Like A Nigger in Cyberspace' and Rosendale Odyssey a
virtual exhibition of multimedia work by primary school children on the
world wide web. New work by Reggie Woolery, Alex Rivera,  Poulomi, Kenseth
Armstead, Art Jones, Shaheen Merali,  Virtual Varrio, Surjit Simplay, Allan
de Souza,  will also be shown.

A programme of events supporting the exhibition includes a one-day
conference on 13 April with keynote speakers Kodwo Eshun, (I.D. magazine)
and Ziauddin Sardar, (co-editor Of CyberFutures Pluto Press 1996) and a
series of informal web based events  including an  debate considering
issues of access;  and an  event featuring  the work of Virtual Varrio, a
web  based artist's group in LA.

Rosendale Odyssey can be found on: www.artec.org.uk/rosendale. Rosendale
School can be e-mailed  on: Kids @ Rosen100.demon.co.uk. For information
contact Fiona Bailey, Project Organiser  on  +44 171 831 1772. For
information and press prints please contact press on +44 171 831 1772.

=============================================
IMPAKT FESTIVAL 1997

The 8th Impakt festival will be organized from May 7 to 11, 1997 in
Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Impakt is an international festival for innovative audiovisual arts. The
festival is a showcase for avantgarde film, video art, music,
installations, performances and multi media events. Lectures and
exhibitions complete the programme.

Programmes this year include:

* The Art of Destruction - the destruction of art and the art of
destruction. Destruction as critique and as aesthetic ideal.
* 1001 Plateaus - after the ideas of the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze,
theoretical provocator and cyberkid avant-la-lettre.
* The Element of Time - the notion of time, borrowed and manipulated:
compress, expand, parallel time and new temporal experience in the light of
the digital media.

And: cinematographic sculptures, David Toop, Scanner, Christina Kubisch,
and Panorama: the most exciting, funniest and strangest films and videos of
the past year.

Further details (soon ...) at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~impakt

Contact:

Impakt
P.O. Box 735
3500 AS Utrecht
The Netherlands
Phone: + 31 (0)30 2944 493
Fax: + 31 (0)30 2944 163
E-mail: impakt@xs4all.nl

*************************************************
                        CALLS
*************************************************
6CYBERCONF
CALL FOR PAPERS, NEW DEADLINE!
Sixth International Conference on Cyberspace
June 5th to 8th, 1997. University of Oslo

Website: http://televr.fou.telenor.no/cyberconf

We already live part-time in cyberspace, and that time is increasing as
fast as the quality of the experience is radically changing.  The Sixth
International Conference on Cyberspace addresses the social, political and
cultural implications of cyberspace from a critical as well as
practical standpoint. In the nets, there is a growing society that ranges
from researchers to Silicon Valley sophisticates to neocyberpunks.
6CYBERCONF offers the opportunity for exchange within and between these
confluent and diverse interests and encourages discussion between
theoreticians and practitioners. Hosted for the second time in Europe, this
sixth edition of CYBERCONF considers: cyborgs looking for a home, the
future body, interface/interaction breakthroughs, and the importance of
collaboration in virtual environments.

CONFERENCE FORMAT

The official opening of 6CYBERCONF is scheduled for Thursday afternoon,
June 5th. The conference will take place over three and a half days. There
will be 6 keynote speakers, 15 plenary sessions, electronic art
installations, special events, a pre- conference workshop on immersive
environment design, and a banquet dinner on Saturday June 7th.  All
sessions are designed to foster discussion. Presentations will be in
English. The themes are:

CYBERSPACE METAPHOR?
The cyberspace metaphor is a means of effecting instantaneous fusion of two
separate realms of experience (man/machine, good/bad, self/world) into one
illuminating, iconic, encapsulating image. Is the metaphor still a way to
proceed from the known to the unknown in cyberspace? Is the metaphor a
critical synthesis of complex communications technologies, bio-sociality or
techno-sociality? Is cyberspace a new metanarrative of progress, or a story
of paradise lost?  Which language for the virtual age?

VIRTUAL SUBJECTS ON THE ROAD
A cyborg is a double articulation in which we find both the end of the
subject and a new dispersed and refracted subjectivity constructed in
cyberspace. The fabric of cyberspace dresses us in the cloth of
possibilities -the virtual subject as a switchboard of souls?  Can we
really construct and reconstruct any identities and personalities?  Will
not the "real" subject implode in its multiplicity?  Or is it a question of
mastering ones avatar puppets on a global playground?  Do we need
psychiatrists for avatars?  Logged off, where does the will of the
cyberpersonality go?

HACKING THE FUTURE BODY
McLuhan argued that electronic media reintegrated the senses. How are
bodies represented through information technology? How can cyberspace give
priority to the lower senses?  How is desire constructed through virtual
worlds?  Are there darker domains of e-motional interference beyond the
emoticons? Is there a "violence of connectivity"? What about cybersex?  Are
we masturbating our way into the year 2000?  Will sexuality become a post-
biological phenomenon? Is the future body a recombinant structure of flesh
or schizoid realities?

ZONES / INTER-ACTION
i) INTER-FACE is the sensitive boundary zone of negotiation between human
and machine, allowing seamless crossings between the worlds:  Facilitating
the disappearance of the difference between them - emerging new set of
human/machine relations - interweaving calculation, simulation and
post-modern culture. How can we design for tacit knowledge and bricolage?
How can we account for differing incentive structures between designers and
users?  Which concealed design codes promote or dissemble functionality?
How to extend the interface into social/material space, transforming it
into an environmental power? Away from the daily prayer at the desktop,
when technology becomes transparent and disappears, where will it take us?
ii) The rapid development of Internet and WWW have limited the definition
of INTER-ACTION as the click of the mouse.  How can interaction become a
mutual and simultaneous activity on the part of the participants
(man-machine-man interaction) in art and education?  If the computer adds
an interference to communication, how can it be used creatively?  What is
interaction beyond the Web?

LABORATORIES FOR COLLABORATION
Many of us are today involved in group interaction through
telecommunication networks.  In the future the 2D interface of the web will
shift to 3D interactive interfaces. How will this affect the way we
perceive our collaborators and our usage of information?  Will it be a
preferred medium to social interaction - opening up new possibilities
within a group, organisation or community?

INCLUSION - EXCLUSION
What about the politics of networks? Which impact will commerce have on the
the internet community?  How will the powerstructures of the internet
affect the behaviour of netizens?  What about the diversity of cyberspace
cultures?  What is "freedom of speech" in a global context?

CALL FOR PAPER ABSTRACTS

To submit an abstract for the potential inclusion of your paper in the
6CYBERCONF programme, please follow these format guidelines:

· Title of the paper
· Author(s)
· Institutional affiliation (if any)
· Chosen 6CYBERCONF theme (from the list above)
· Abstract, 500 words maximum
· Brief biography, 100 words maximum
· Audio-visual equipment requirements
· Contact information (email preferred)

There are two ways to submit abstracts:
1) Email with the subject topic to abstracts@televr.fou.telenor.no or
2) mail both a printed copy and a PC or MAC diskette to: 6CYBERCONF/ Morten
Soby, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1092, Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway.

The selection will be done by an international and a local committee made
up of academics, theorists, artists and technicians in the field.

Submission of an abstract indicates the submitter's intention and
capability to write and present the corresponding, full length paper, if
chosen.

Papers will be allotted a half hour for presentation in English.

Please be advised that the selection committees will not consider abstracts
that are not formatted as stated above nor papers that have been previously
published.

All abstracts and papers will be published in the proceedings (paper and
Web-edition).

DEADLINES

Deadline for reception of abstracts: April 1, 1996
Notification of selection for presentation: April 15, 1996
Deadline for registration: May 1, 1996

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

The registration fee will be waived for those presenting a paper in
6CYBERCONF. In addition, a limited number of grants are available to those
presenters who demonstrate financial need. These grants may cover the costs
of travel and accommodation.

FEES & REGISTRATION

The registration fee for attending 6CYBERCONF is US$ 250  (US$ 50 for
students). For detailed information on how to register and information on
travel and accommodation, check our Website or
mailto:info@televr.fou.telenor.no

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Send e-mail to: info@televr.fou.telenor.no

See the Web site for continuous updates:
http://televr.fou.telenor.no/cyberconf - or contact directly

Abstracts, Papers, Information:
Conference Editor: Vibeke Kløvstad
Phone:  + 47 22426980 / 22426892#126
Email: vibeke.klovstad@kulturkanalen.no

=============================================
A R T   &    D E S I G N    S K E T C H E S

Submit a Sketch to SIGGRAPH 97
Deadline: April 16, 1997

SKETCHES are live, 15 minute presentations that provide a forum for
unique, interesting ideas and techniques in computer graphics.
Sketches allow the presentation of late-breaking results, works in
progress, art, design, and innovative uses and applications of
graphics techniques and technology. Sketch abstracts will be published
in the Visual Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 97, the premier international
conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques.

Sketches are an engaging, high-profile way to show your work and
creations. We are seeking submissions in four areas:

Art and Design
        Artists and designers are invited to submit artwork or designs
        that utilize unique, compelling, or innovative approaches or ideas.

Animations
        Computer animators are invited to present their latest
        techniques, artwork, and products.

Applications
        Organizations or individuals are invited to submit descriptions
        of creative or especially useful applications of computer graphics
        technology applied to solve everyday problems in industry,
        education, government, and research labs.

Technical
        Authors are invited to submit abstracts of their latest research,
        techniques, and software. Technical sketch submissions are less formal
        than the Papers program and allow lively presentation of late-breaking
        results with more audience interaction.

For more information, see the SIGGRAPH 97 Call for Participation, send
email to sketches.s97@siggraph.org, or for the latest, most
comprehensive information on how to submit to Sketches and other
SIGGRAPH 97 programs, including supplemental documents, please go to:
http://www.siggraph.org/s97/
http://www.siggraph.org/s97/contributors/programs/sketches/require.html

To request a copy of the Call for Participation, contact:

        SIGGRAPH 97 Conference Management
        Smith, Bucklin & Associates, Inc.
        401 North Michigan Avenue
        Chicago, Illinois 60611 USA
        +1.312.321.6830
        +1.312.321.6876 fax
        siggraph97@siggraph.org

DEADLINES:
        16 April 1997
        5 pm Eastern Daylight Time
        Final Sketch proposals

Unsure of which area would be most appropriate for your work? Contact:
        David S. Ebert
        SIGGRAPH 97 Sketches Chair
        University of Maryland Baltimore County
        CSEE Department ECS-210
        1000 Hilltop Circle
        Baltimore, Maryland 21250 USA
        +1.410.455.3541
        +1.410.455.3969 fax
        sketches.s97@siggraph.org

For questions about the Art & Design Sketches, contact:
        Diana Gromala
        SIGGRAPH 97 Art & Design Sketches Chair
        University of Washington
        School of Communications
        Box 353740
        Seattle, WA 98195   USA
        +1.206.543.2660
        +1.206.543.9285 fax
        gromala@u.washington.edu

=============================================
CONVERGENCE:
The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies

Call for papers:
SOUND AND MUSIC THEORY AND PRODUCTION
Submission deadline for this issue is *30 april 1997*

From 1997 Convergence will become a quarterly journal. For Volume 3, No. 4
of the Journal (Winter 1997) we are seeking papers relating to research
projects or case studies on sound and music theory and production as they
relate to new media technologies. Papers would be welcomed that deal with
digital sound; delivery systems; technology and psychoacoustics; and
critical analysis of new technologies in composition, performance and
improvisation. This issue will be guest-edited by Rebecca Coyle of Macquarie
University, Sydney, Australia.

Proposals for articles or completed papers for the sound / music issue
should be sent to: Rebecca Coyle, Dept. of Media and Communication Studies,
Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia, tel. +61 (0)2 9850 8752, fax +61
(0)2 9850 8240, email: rcoyle@pip.engl.mq.edu.au

Call for papers:
NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN CENTRAL, EASTERN AND SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE
Submission deadline for this issue is *30 October 1997*

For Volume 4, No. 2 of the Journal (Summer 1998) we are seeking papers relating
to research projects or case studies on media art, specific electronic arts
discourse(s), and the cultural, social and political implications of new
media technologies in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.  Papers
would be welcome that deal with current developments in electronic arts and
the specific aesthetic strategies in the post-socialist Eastern European
countries; that provide an insight into Eastern European approaches to using
new technologies and attitudes towards the effects of new media; that deal
critically with the notion of technology as a 'unifying' or 'normative'
factor; that question the viability of notions such as East and West,
analysing local developments within a broader global context; or that
provide critical analysis of institutions and non-institutional networks
and structures promoting and supporting new media technologies in Eastern
Europe.  This issue will be guest-edited by Inke Arns, media art curator,
Berlin, Germany.

All inquiries about, proposals for articles or completed papers for the
Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe issue should be sent to: Inke
Arns, Pestalozzistr. 5, 10625 Berlin, Germany, tel/fax ++49-30-313 66 78,
e-mail inke@is.in-berlin.de

All other editorial inquiries, general proposals and submissions to: Julia
Knight or Alexis Weedon, Editors, Convergence, School of Media Arts,
University of Luton, 75 Castle Street, Luton, LU1 3AJ, United Kingdom.  Tel:
+44 1582 34111, fax: + 44 1582 489014, email: Convergence@luton.ac.uk

Convergence is a paper journal. For further information and details of
back issues see our web site at http://www.luton.ac.uk/Convergence

Subscriptions and samples from John Libbey Media at the above address.
Tel:+44 1582 743297. Fax: +44 1582 743298.

=============================================
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL

The Chicago Underground Film Festival is gearing up for it's Fourth Annual
Film Festival and 2nd Annual CD-ROM and Digital Media Showcase. The Events
will take place @ The Theatre Building 1225 W. Belmont and @ the Interactive
Bean 1137 W. Belmont August 13-17 in Chicago.

The CD-Rom Digital Showcase is seeking submission for this years showcase
and is opened to any area of digital medias, if we can accomidate the request
we will exhibit it. If you are intrested you can contact Mark Siska @
cuff@ripco.com or call (888)864-9644 for more info on how to submit.

If you are intrested in submitting a film/video you can call (773)866-8660 or
email cuff@ripco.com for a application. Deadline for film and video is *May
12th*

=============================================
HAMBURGER KUNSTHALLE GALERIE DER GEGENWART

EXTENSION
Internet as Material and Object

Invitation for Entries

Material and object are familiar terms used in the plastic arts. The
current competition sets out to transfer these concepts to the Internet.
What meaning can the Internet have for the museum? Collecting, preserving,
educating and researching have been traditionally the guiding principles of
museum work. In order to put these principles to the test on the newmedium,
a number of art projects taking up Internet as a theme are now being placed
in the context of "museum". The competition is a joint project of SPIEGEL
Online, SPIEGEL special, Philips and the Hamburg Kunsthalle, who are
pursuing common goals in sponsoring/creating EXTENSION. Each of the
partners will contribute his specific competence in the fields of Internet,
media and technology to the project.

Underlying idea of the competition: The Galerie der Gegenwart is the
extension building of the Hamburg Kunsthalle and was officially opened on
February 23rd.
Now the extension is continuing into cyberspace: EXTENSION is the space
where the Galerie der Gegenwart can be visited in the Internet, and the
competition is designed to generate projects for display in EXTENSION which
perceive the Inte net as object and material of artistic expression. The
competition is regarded as an experiment: What can this extension mean to
the traditional museum, and what can the museum contribute? What rela
ionship can evolve between Internet and museum? As Kunsthalle director
Professor Dr. Uwe M. Schneede explains: "The Internet is a communication
medium of the present, and the Galerie der Gegenwart is a new museum for
Hamburg. EXTENSION will show how artists react to the new medium. To the
Kunsthalle, the competition represents both a search for and promotion of
new movements in art."

In parallel with the start of the competition, the new issue of SPIEGEL
special has been published, dedicated to the subject "Digital man - how
computers are changing the world". Apart from the invitation to take part
in the competition the issue features an extensive report by
California-based author Gundolf S. Freyermuth on the new art form of
"CyberArt". As co-organizer of the competition, SPIEGEL special is
committed to supporting the ongoing development of an artistic vocabulary
of forms unique to the Internet, according to chief editor Jochen Boelsche.

The following terms have been agreed for the selection of entries and the
presentation of the EXTENSION competition. The jury will select entries
based on the intensity of dealing with the subject. The Internet must be
the object as well as the place of all entries. Size and degree of
elaboration will not be a criterion; what matters instead is the degree in
which the Internet is made the specific object of an entry. Three entries
will be awarded a prize, and the winners will receive DM 10,000, DM 5,000
and DM 3,000, respectively. In addition, a "Philips Internet/TV set" will
be awarded by Philips as a special prize. "Philips has always been one of
the pace-makers in communications and media technologies", explains Dr.
Manfred Schmidt, CEO of Philips GmbH. "Therefore, we gladly take the
opening of the Galerie der Gegenwart as an opportunity to support a
competition that will spread artistic forms of expression in the new world
of multimedia."

Entries will be available for viewing in the Internet EXTENSION of the
Galerie der Gegenwart. In parallel with cyberspace happenings, the
Kunsthalle will stage a series of events in autumn '97 on the subject of
"Internet", which is where prizes will be awarded by the Jury.
Jury: Prof. Dr. Uwe M. Schneede, director of the Hamburg Kunsthalle, Rainer
Woertmann, art-director SPIEGEL special, Prof. Valie Export, artist,
Dellbruegge & de Moll, artists, Prof. Dieter Daniels, expert in new media
and art.

Form of submission: The physical location of the competition will be the
SPIEGEL Online server. Entries should be viewable using standard browsers
(Netscape 3.0/Explorer 3.0) and freely available plug-ins. Technical
requirements and procedure are availiable on Internet URL:
http://www.spiegel.de/extension

Entry conditions: Beginning and deadline: The competition started with the
opening of the Galerie der Gegenwart on February 23rd 1997. Closing day
will be June 30th 1997.

If you need further information, please watch the Internet EXTENSION-Site
http://www.spiegel.de/extension

For any questions please call:

Jens Emil Sennewald
Hamburg Kunsthalle
PR office
Phone (+49) 40/2486-2614
Fax (+49) 40/2486-2978
e-mail: Kh@kulturbehoerde.hamburg.de

.....moscow wwwart centre......
http://sunsite.cs.msu.su/wwwart

*************************************************
                        MISCELLANEOUS
*************************************************
Digital conceptual art:  THE HUMAN BODY AS AN ECOSYSTEM, a new CD-ROM.

200 images and a number of short videos (easily accessible on Power Mac or older
Macintoshes).  Pre-publication price: $25.  E-mail:  ftacha@oberlin.edu

Athena Tacha, Professor of Art at Oberlin College, known for her public art
commissions and conceptual art books, has just completed an interactive
CD-ROM meant to reveal the incredible universe of micro-organisms that live
as permanent residents on and inside our body, interdependent with each
other and with us.  The human body is visualized as a parallel to the
planet Earth, colonized by bacteria, viruses, fungi etc. -- an environment
with varied climate zones, comparable to cool dark woods (the scalp),
sparsely inhabited deserts (the forearm), heavily populated tropical forest
(the underarm), hot moist jungles (the nose and mouth), oceans teaming with
life (the vagina, or the intestinal and urinal tracts).
The CD-ROM offers multiple layers of images and textual information that
represent the body's different areas allowing interpenetration from one to
the other at many levels, just as the micro-organisms communicate from area
to  area.
It also allows surprises and unpredictable juxtapositions, individual
connections and discoveries, and an interactivity and fluidity that are
paralleled by the actual conditions in the body.

=============================================
The Inter-Society aims at joining a world-wide network of artists,
scientists and their institutes, making it easier for the institutes and
individual members to share expertise with each other. The aims of the
Inter-Society are to promote a structured approach to electronic art and to
help finance worthy electronic art projects. For membership information
contact ISEA at the address on the front page.

ISEA distributes a hard copy version of this Newsletter in order to keep
its members, who have no access to Electronic Mail, informed. Those members
can, if they desire, get in touch with the Email addresses mentioned in
this Newsletter by contacting ISEA.
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ISEA MULTI-CULTURAL
Hosted by the University of Vermont, this is a closed discussion list for
those who want to extend cultural diversity within the ISEA framework. It
grew out of the discussion at the plenary session of ISEA 96 in Rotterdam.

Since one of the primary obstacles to making ISEA more inclusive appears to
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making this list multi-lingual.

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