Conference Art Communities Director's Statement

The SIGGRAPH conference has long held a highly respected position as the place where leading researchers meet and share ground-breaking developments in computer graphics and interactive techniques. It is a not-to-be-missed annual highlight for those engaged in these fields. The same has been true, but to a lesser degree, for artists and scholars who work with digital and interactive media. So five years ago, following the lead of artist Rebecca Strzelec, a collective decision was made to expand the role of art and design scholars and practitioners by renewing a commitment to the existing SIGGRAPH art programs, the Art Gallery and Studio, and adding a third program, Art Papers. The benefits of that decision are increasingly apparent.

For the 2012 conference, the Studio, under the leadership of Makai Smith, again offers a hands-on creative space for art and design of all kinds. It is a collaborative working environment where the latest technologies and brightest minds come together to learn, experiment, and create. New to the Studio is the inclusion of juried panels and presentations related to the creative design and production side of digital technologies. The Art Gallery contributes to the conference by inviting creative practitioners from around the world to submit their work for review. The gallery's focus this year, chosen by the Art Gallery Chair, Osman Khan, is wonderment - artworks that both inspire and are inspired by moments of awe, surprise, and wonder. Of the nearly 400 projects submitted this year, 12 were selected for the Art Gallery. They are also documented here in the SIGGRAPH Special Issue of Leonardo.

Which brings us to the newest SIGGRAPH art program, Art Papers, and to the wonderful collaboration that results in the journal you hold in your hand. Art Papers, now part of the conference for the fourth year, are scholarly papers that illuminate and explore the changing roles of artists and the methods of art-making in our increasingly networked and computationally mediated world. Art Papers chosen by the review committee are presented at the conference by the authors and published in a special SIGGRAPH issue of Leonardo, The Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology. This publication is a collaborative endeavor among MIT Press, Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, and ACM SIGGRAPH. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with these partners and very proud of the outcome. The publication is a tangible indicator of the commitment all three partners have made to supporting and providing opportunities for professionals who are actively engaged in scholarship and creative work in art and technology.