Leonardo/ISAST News

LEONARDO, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 79–83, 2000 79© 2000 ISAST Leonardo/ISAST NEWS The Newsletter of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology Section Editor: Andrea Blum E-mail: Leonardo/ISAST in Brazil Leonardo editors, editorial advisers, board members and authors met south of the equator in August 1999 for meetings in Rio de Janeiro followed by participation in the “Invenção: Thinking about the Next Millennium” conference in São Paulo, Brazil. Our days in Rio de Janeiro included a day full of meetings and activities arranged by Leonardo Editorial Advisor Rejane Spitz and hosted by Leonardo/ISAST. The day included an Editorial Board and Author meeting to discuss the future directions of Leonardo as well as a meeting and cocktail party with artists and faculty at Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Rio. Invenção was designed to bring together artists and researchers working at the creative edge of the arts, sciences and technology interested in the transdisciplinary development of ideas and innovative strategies. The conference combined the forces of ISEA, CAiiA-STAR and Leonardo/ISAST, and was sponsored by Itaú Cultural Institute. One of the main focuses of the conference was the identification of key questions and issues that could lead to the radical transformation of culture. Opening talks and nightly keynote speeches were given by Roy Ascott, Roger F. Malina, Eduardo Kac and John Casti. Presentations were given by other Leonardo editorial board members and authors, including Michael Punt, Jack Ox, Oliver Grau, Artur Matuck, Andrea Polli, Andra MacCartney, Victoria Vesna, Carlos Fadon Vicente, Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau, Nell Tenhaaf, Christiane Paul, Jill Scott and Ricardo dal Farra. A panel discussion on the topic of Women, Art and Technology was presented in conjunction with the Leonardo Women, Art and Technology Project. Panel members included Leonardo authors Christa Sommerer, Christiane Paul, Nell Tenhaaf, Victoria Vesna, Donna Cox, Sonya Rapoport, Diana Domingues. Panel members led the discussion, recounting some of their experiences working with technologybased media in today’s society. Audience members joined in for a provocative discussion of issues and concerns, opportunities and problems faced by women working in the field of art and technology. Another panel discussion, on the final day of the conference, was organized by Leonardo Co-Editor Stephen Wilson on the topic of “Art at the Edge of Science,” which is also the topic of his upcoming Leonardo Book Series volume, to be published by the MIT Press. Members of this panel included Stephen Wilson , Nell Tenhaaf, Roger Malina, Donna Cox and Diana Domingues. The panel highlighted exciting new areas of activity involving the cross-fertilization of art and science, with examples of influence in the areas of technological innovation. Also on the final day in São Paulo, a meeting of Leonardo International Editors, authors and friends was conducted to discuss future directions of the journal and assess the needs of the community. The conference offered a rare opportunity to exchange and discuss ideas in person among this geographically dispersed group of interested artists and thinkers. In particular, the large attendance of Brazilians at the conference provided a welcome source of viewpoints and input not generally well represented at art-and-technology events in other areas of the world. —Patricia Bentson and Pamela Grant-Ryan Morocco Memory II Vibeke Sorensen, Morocco Memory II, interactive computer piece, 1999. This piece explores individual and shared memories through visual, aural and textual documents of actual experiences in Morocco in the 1960s and 1970s and recorded secondary experiences in popular media throughout the century. Users are invited to make connections and associations between the personal and cultural memory fragments by employing a range of sensory input, including smell and touch. Morocco Memory II was installed at the Fisher Gallery at the University of Southern California as part of the Interactive Frictions Art Exhibit of the Labyrinth Research Initiative, 4–18 June 1999. —Vibeke Sorensen Leonardo Electronic Almanac Update In the latter part of 1999, our web-based journal Leonardo Electronic Almanac (LEA) launched another phase in the development of its website. LEA gallery curator and website designer 80 Leonardo/ISAST News Patrick Maun has developed a simple navigation and indexing system to...