Leonardo/ISAST NEWS

Leonardo/ISAST NEWS Newsletter of LeonardoAhe International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology The 1998 Makepeace Tsao Leonardo Award Leonardo/ISAST is pleased to announce the first recipient of the Makepeace Tsao Leonardo Award: La Cite des arts et des nouvelles technologies de Montreal. Leonardo/ISAST's newest award is designed to recognize organizations and artists' groups that have increased public awareness of art forms involving science and technology, particularly through the sponsoring and curating of exhibitions. The award's namesake, Makepeace Tsao, is a retired biochemist , professor, gallery owner and artist who has been a member of the Leonardo Editorial Board and an advisor to and benefactor of Leonardo/ISAST for 15 years. Through its Images du Futur exhibitions, which were held annually from 1985 through 1996, La Cite des arts et des nouvelles technologies de Montreal, founded and directed by Ginette Major and Herve Fischer, provided a forum for a wide range of artists using new technologies and helped establish new media as viable forms of artistic expression. La Cite's efforts are representative of the important work being done by many such small institutions. Both in their exhibitions and on their Web site, La Cite has shown provocative, international selection of diverse types of technology-enhanced art—ranging from kinetic sculpture to interactive multimedia and electronic art—encouraging interactivity while transcending international borders. La Cite's Electronic Cafe (part of a gallery space in Old Montreal) and Cyberworld (a permanent exhibition and educational center inaugurated in 1997) help visitors learn more about the Internet and multimedia. Other ongoing projects include the Multimedia and Internet International Market, an international showcase of multimedia technology, and the Telescience Festival, an international scientific film festival focusing on the challenges of science and technology in the new millennium. Their newest initiative is "Science for All," an alliance of Quebec institutions promoting science as a basic part of contemporary culture. For more information about the Makepeace Tsao Leonardo Award, including information about the award finalists, visit our web site at . For more information about current and future activities of La Cite, contact La Cite des arts et des nouvelles technologies de Montreal, 85, rue St-Paul ouest (angle St-Sulpice), VieuxMontreal , Canada. Web site: . Leonardo/ISAST News Coordinator: Andrea Blum. E-mail: . Mark Beam Joins Leonardo/ISAST Board of Directors Mark Beam is the founder of beaming, an information technology consulting and event management group in San Francisco . beaming's clients range from large international corporations like NTT to small software startup companies such as Quantum Dynamics International, beaming also produces a lecture/performance series called New Minds, where some of the brightest minds in new media creatively address the sociocultural implications of this technology. Prior to founding beaming in 1995, Beam was intimately involved in the management and use of information technology in the financial securities market as an institutional securities executive, investment banker and trader. He held senior positions for several Wall Street securities firms including three of the largest banks in the world. Mark Beam has received a B.S. in Business Administration, an M.B.A. and a J.D. from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Leonardo Electronic Almanac Launches New Work by Tina LaPorta Leonardo Electronic Almanac (LEA) announces the exhibition of a new work by artist Tina LaPorta in the LEA Gallery. Carl Francis DiSalvo, who created a previous LEA Gallery work, introduces LaPorta's piece. Gallery Curator Patrick Maun reports that he plans to continue the process of publishing perspectives of new work by artists who have presented work in the previous exhibitions, in addition to presenting the views of the artists. In DiSalvo's words, Tina LaPorta, in her piece Translate { } Expression (1994), "uses the technology of 3dimensional rendering in conjunction with sound and interaction to engage us in an investigation of the complex interplay between technology, the body, and female subjectivity." LEA can be located at URL: . Nominations Sought for Leonardo Award for Lifetime Achievement The Frank J. Malina Award for Lifetime Achievement recognizes eminent artists who have produced a lifetime of work involving a synthesis of contemporary art, science and technology . Winners include Gyorgy Kepes, Nicolas Schöffer, Max Bill and Takis...