DASH Archives - December 2006

Lansdown Lecture: John Lansdown and the Genesis of Computer Art 
Dr. Nicholas Lambert, Birkbeck College

+ Date: Tuesday 12 December 2006

+ Time: 4:45pm for one hour

+ Location: Middlesex University, Cat Hill Campus: Room 137.

+ The campus is a simple Tube ride from central London, and within easy reach of the M25.

+ Location in Google Maps:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=en4+8ht&ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=51.646998,
-0.143552&spn=0.013474,0.050898&t=h&om=1

Admission is free. For this last Lansdown Lecture before Christmas there will be a free glass of 
wine. 

If you would like to attend this lecture, please email LCEAinfo@mdx.ac.uk.


+++++++++++++++++++++ 
John Lansdown and the Genesis of Computer Art 
Dr. Nicholas Lambert, Birkbeck College
+++++++++++++++++++++ 

The Lansdown Centre, in association with the Computer Arts Society, presents a lecture 
celebrating John Lansdown's contribution to the field.

John Lansdown (1929-1999) was the pioneer after whom the Lansdown Lecture series is named. 
To date, the history of computer graphics has tended to be dominated by the record of American 
contributors, but in the CACHe project, Nick Lambert and his colleagues have revealed the history 
of the UK contribution in which John Lansdown was a key figure. An active early member of the 
Computer Arts Society, John pioneered the use of computing in architecture, dance, surface 
design, animation and in digital art per se, not just as a tool but as a generative system. He also 
led the group at Middlesex University to become the research centre it is today.

Nick will look at John Lansdown's thought in the 1960s-70s and reveal how clearly he foresaw the 
potentials and development of modern computer art. 


+++++++++++++++++++++ 

If you would like to attend this lecture, please email LCEAinfo@mdx.ac.uk.

Any enquires to Stephen Boyd Davis:  s.boyd-davis@mdx.ac.uk 

++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

_____________________________________________________________
Stephen Boyd Davis
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts  EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
.............................................................
The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/
_____________________________________________________________

12 DECEMBER 2006 - PRESS RELEASE

Contact for press/preview discs/screening bookings:
Patrick Kwiatkowski +1-713-412-5120, patrick@microcinema.com
www.9evenings.org


Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.)
ARTPIX
Microcinema International

announce

9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering - a 10 DVD set of films on a legendary
series of theater, dance, music and performances at the New York 69th
Regiment Armory in 1966 by 10 New York artists: Robert Rauschenberg,  
John
Cage, David Tudor, Yvonne Rainer, Deborah Hay, Robert Whitman, Steve  
Paxton,
Alex Hay, Lucinda Childs and �yvind Fahlstr�m.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
----

In 1966 10 New York artists worked with 30 engineers and scientists  
from the
world renowned Bell Telephone Laboratories to create groundbreaking
performances that incorporated new technology. Video projection,  
wireless
sound transmission, and Doppler sonar - technologies that are  
commonplace
today - had never been seen in the art of the 60's. The 9 Evenings DVD
Series is an important documentation of the collaborations between the
artists and engineers that produced innovative works using these  
emerging
technologies. These performances still resonate today, as forerunners  
of the
close and rapidly-evolving relationship between artists and technology.

The DVDs � one on each artist�s performance -- will be released  
sequentially
over the next two years with the initial publication of the series:  
Robert
Rauschenberg - Open Score, available Feb 27, 2007, followed by the  
second in
the series: John Cage - Variations VII, available June 26, 2007. Each  
DVD
will be PAL and NTSC system compatible.

9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering is recognized as a major artistic  
event of
the 1960s. The performances represented the culmination of a period of
extraordinary creative energy in art, dance and music in the late  
1950s and
early 1960s, and they also pointed to the future, as artists began to  
use
new technology in their work.

9 Evenings was organized by Robert Rauschenberg and Billy Kl�ver, then a
research scientist at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey.  
It was
held at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City from October 13-23,  
1966.
As Billy Kl�ver has written: "9 Evenings was unique in the incredible
richness and imagination of the performances. The Armory space  
allowed the
artists to work on an unprecedented scale, and their involvement with
technology and collaborations with the engineers added a dimension of
unfamiliarity and challenge. They responded with major works."

9 Evenings was the first large-scale collaboration between artists and
engineers and scientists. The two groups worked together for 10  
months to
develop technical equipment and systems that were used as an integral  
part
of the artists� performances. Their collaboration produced many  
"firsts" in
the use of new technology for the theater, both with specially-designed
systems and equipment and with innovative use of existing equipment.
Closed-circuit television and television projection was used on stage  
for
the first time; a fiber-optics camera picked up objects in a performer's
pocket; an infrared television camera captured action in total  
darkness; a
Doppler sonar device translated movement into sound; and portable  
wireless
FM transmitters and amplifiers transmitted speech and body sounds to  
Armory
loudspeakers.

Using archival film footage and original sound recordings, the 9  
Evenings
films reconstruct each artist's performance as fully as possible;  
they also
contain new interviews with artists, engineers and performers to  
illuminate
the artistic, technical and historical aspects of the works.

Performances are by nature ephemeral events; this DVD series assures  
that
the 9 Evenings will not be lost but will be available to new  
generations of
dance and theater students as well as art scholars, artists and the  
general
public who will have a concrete representation of what 9 Evenings looked
like and how it came to play such an important role in American 20th  
century
art.

The films on 9 Evenings are produced for E.A.T. by Julie Martin and  
directed
by Barbro Schultz Lundestam. They are funded in part by generous  
gifts from
Robert Rauschenberg and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation as well as  
with
support from the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art Science and  
Technology.

The 10 disc DVD series, 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering, is co- 
produced by
E.A.T. and ARTPIX and will be distributed worldwide by Microcinema
International.


------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
----

E.A.T. is a service organization that promotes the collaboration between
artists and engineers to provide artists with access to new  
technology and
to facilitate their participation in projects dealing with areas of  
social
concern.

ARTPIX is a non profit organization that produces DVDs about the arts
including: Robert Whitman: Performances from the 60s; Trisha Brown:  
Early
Works 1966-1979; William Wegman: Video Works 1970-1999.(www.artpix.org)

Visit www.9evenings.org for more information.
Microcinema International - The Art of the Moving Image

Microcinema is a leading international distributor and licensor of the
moving image arts.

Microcinema International is exclusive distributor worldwide for the  
entire
series of 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering (www.microcinema.com). The
series will be available online at www.microcinemadvd.com or for  
wholesale,
institutional or educational purchasing. For info and for
theatrical/institutional screening/display information please  
contact: Joel
Bachar, Microcinema International, 1636 Bush St., St. 2, San  
Francisco CA
94109, +1-415.447.9750 / FAX +1-509.351.1530 / joel@microcinema.com



Microcinema International

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
----

email: news@microcinema.com
phone: 415-447-9750
web: http://www.microcinema.com

::Forwarded from the SPECTRE list [see below for details]::

(the event is over, but the publication sounds very interesting; ab)


Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 15:38:33 -0800
From: office@kuda.org
Subject: Presentation of the book OMITTED HISTORY in Novi Sad, Serbia


Friday, 8. December 2006, 19:00
Cinema room, Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Dunavska 37,  
Novi Sad
(former Museum of Socialists Revolution)

Invitation to
Promotion of the publication: OMITTED HISTORY
Promotion of the project Political Practices of (Post-) Yugoslav Art

Participants of the public discussion are members of collectives:
What, How & for Whom - WHW, Zagreb
SCCA/pro.ba, Sarajevo
Prelom Kolektiv, Belgrade
New Media Center_kuda.org, Novi Sad

OMITTED HISTORY - How ready are we to learn from our mistakes from
the past? How important is it to position positive historical
elements as a model for the future, especially when we speak about
the freedom and progressive cultural and social practices? These are
just some of the questions initiated during the open discussion
"Omitted History" held in November 2005 in Novi Sad, at the opening
of the exhibition "The Continuous Art Class, Novi Sad Neo-avant-garde
of the 1960s and 1970s". Speakers of the debate were Zelimir Zilnik,
movie director from Novi Sad, Prof. Misko Suvakovic, art theorist
from Belgrade, Latinka Perovic, historian from Belgrade, Balint
Szombathy, multimedia artist from Budapest and Lazar Stojanovic,
movie director from Belgrade.

This discussion was intended to throw light on crucial events on the
political and artistic scenes at the beginning of the seventies of
the twentieth century in former Yugoslavia, yet on the other hand, to
offer the proposals for a model on how to critically read and write
new history of the Yugoslav socialist times, connecting it to the
present situation. One year after the exibition "The Continuous Art
Class" and the discussion "Omitted History" in Novi Sad, this
valuable document, the transcript of the discussion is published in
new, bilingual publication in publishing project of the
Center_kuda.org, as a part of long-term research entitled "The
Continuous Art Class".

Publication "Omitted History" is bilingual edition (Serbian and
English language) and it has been published by "Revolver", Frankfurt,
Germany. Details about the book "Omitted History" and its free
download (PDF fail) could be found at
http://www.kuda.org/?q=en/node/795

"Political Practices in (Post-) Yugoslav Art" is concieved as a
long-term process in which four independent cultural organization are
collaborating in multidisciplinary researching, mapping and analyzing
of the historical, socio-political and economic conditions that led
to current constellation of art practices or intellectual and
cultural production in post-Socialist space of �Southeast Europe" or,
more preciselly, of �Western Balcans", eg. former Yugoslavia.  It is
a research that stands against the understanding of cultural domain
based on the notion of identity, particularly on national identity,
this research would like to make a shift from the paradigm of
art-as-something that represents to art-as-a-political practice.

The project "Political Practices of (Post-) Yugoslav Art" takes place
in the framework of ALMOSTREAL. ALMOSTREAL (www.almostreal.org) is a
project initiated by the European Cultural Foundation and it is an
integral part of its arts programme. Details about the project
"Political Practices of (Post-) Yugoslav Art" could be found at
http://www.kuda.org/?q=en/node/555

More about participants of the public discussion:
What, How & for Whom - WHW, Zagreb, www.mi2.hr/whw
SCCA/pro.ba, Sarajevo, www.pro.ba
Prelom Kolektiv, Belgrade, www.prelomkolektiv.org/
New Media Center_kuda.org, Novi Sad, www.kuda.org

Publication "Omitted History" has been realised with the support of
European Cultural Foundation, Amsterdam and Daniel print, Novi Sad
and the public discussion has been realised with the support of
Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina and Student Cultural Center
Novi Sad.

Important further links:
Publication "Omitted History": http://www.kuda.org/?q=sr/node/795
The project "Political Practices of (Post-) Yugoslav Art":
http://www.kuda.org/?q=sr/node/555
Project "The Continuous Art Class", publication and the exhibition
"The Continuous Art Class, Novi Sad Neo-avant-garde of the 1960s and
1970s": http://www.kuda.org/?q=node/541,
http://www.kuda.org/?q=en/node/645

kuda.org

  office@kuda.org
  brace mogin 2
  po box 22
  21113 novi sad
  serbia and montenegro
  tel/fax +381 21 512 227
  http:// kuda.org

______________________________________________
SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe
Info, archive and help:
http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre

This is advance notice of a new post: RESEARCH FELLOW (Electronic Arts). Apologies for cross-
postings. 

Please send requests for further information and expressions of interest to the head of the 
Lansdown Centre, Dr. Stephen Boyd Davis . Please put 'RF in Electronic 
Arts' in the subject-line of any emails. Applicants will in due course need to send a full application 
to the University's Human Resources office.

Period: Full-time temporary for three years. For funding reasons this post is NOT available part-
time. 

Location: Middlesex University, north London.


The Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts seeks a full-time Research Fellow to undertake research 
in any of the areas of expertise of the Centre. The Centre's work is multidisciplinary and 
transcends boundaries between art and science and between fine arts and design. Applications are 
welcome from those with art, design, science and other backgrounds. 

The RF will investigate a research theme which can be of the applicant's own choosing. Themes of 
the Centre's work include: Interactive Media; Sonic Arts; Film, Video and Interactive Arts. Please 
see http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/ for an indication of the kinds of projects currently undertaken at 
the Centre. Applicants are welcome to make proposals which extend the Centre's current range of 
activities, provided they complement the existing work. The proposed research may be theoretical, 
historical or practical in focus.

The post-holder is expected to produce public research outputs. These may be any of: scholarly 
journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, performances, screenings, installations, 
exhibitions, websites etc. These must be of at least national, and preferably international, 
significance.


The post-holder will also, with the help of others, develop proposals for externally funded 
research projects.

This is a post-doctoral appointment. However, applicants whose PhD is near completion may also 
apply. If your PhD is not yet complete, please indicate its current status. This will be confirmed 
with your Director of Studies.

Applicants with an existing track-record of significant public outputs will be preferred.


In your full application you will be expected to identify:
1. the research theme or themes which you wish to pursue;
2. the rationale for the research, indicating why it is important; 
3. how you plan to undertake the research;
4. what research outputs you expect to achieve, indicating likely publications, fora, venues etc as 
appropriate;
5. any requirements you anticipate in order to support your research;
6. why you are the right person for the post;
7. why you want to undertake the research at the Lansdown Centre.

Please send requests for further information and expressions of interest to Stephen Boyd Davis 
. Please put 'RF in Electronic Arts' in the subject-line of any emails. 
Applicants will in due course need to send a full application to the University's Human Resources 
office.

_____________________________________________________________
Stephen Boyd Davis, PhD, FRSA
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts  EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
.............................................................
The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/
_____________________________________________________________

re:place 2007 - Call for Proposals  - Reminder 
The Second International Conference on the Histories of Media, Art, Science and Technology

Location: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Date: 15-18 November 2007

re:place 2007, the Second International Conference on the Histories of Media, Art, Science and Technology, will take place in Berlin from 15 - 18 November 2007 as a project of Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH in cooperation with Haus der Kulturen der Welt. This conference is a sequel to 'Refresh!', the first in this series, chaired by Oliver Grau and produced by the Database of Virtual Art, Leonardo, and Banff New Media Institute, and held at the Banff Center in Canada in September 2005, which brought together several hundred artists, scientists, researchers, curators and theoreticians of different disciplines.

re:place 2007 will be an international forum for the presentation and the discussion of exemplary approaches to the rapport between art, media, science and technology. With the title, 're:place', we propose a thematic focus on locatedness and the migration of knowledge and knowledge production in the interdisciplinary contexts of art, historiography, science and technology.

The re:place 2007 conference will be devoted to examining the manifold connections between art, science and technology, connections which have come into view more sharply through the growing attention to media art and its histories over the past years. It will address historical contexts and artistic explorations of new technologies as well as the historical and contemporary research into the mutual influences between artistic work, scientific research and technological developments. This research concerns such diverse fields as cybernetics, artificial intelligence, robotics, nano-technology, and bio-technology, as well as investigations in the humanities including art history, visual culture, musicology, comparative literature, media archaeology, media theory, science studies, and sociology.

Conference Programme

The conference programme will include competitively selected, peer-reviewed individual papers, panel presentations, poster sessions, as well as a small number of invited speakers. Several Keynote Lectures, by internationally renowned, outstanding theoreticians and artists, will deliberate on the central themes of the conference.

The conference will also include dedicated forum sessions for participants to engage in more open-ended discussion and debate on relevant issues and questions.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

re:place 2007 welcomes contributions from established as well as from emerging researchers in diverse fields. The conference will be of interest to those working in, but not limited to, the following areas: art history and theory, literary studies, cultural studies, film and media studies, theatre, dance and performance studies, philosophy, history, gender studies, human-computer interaction, contemporary art, musicology, sound studies, anthropology, sociology, geography, science, technology and society studies, history of science, and history of technology.

We are especially keen on empirical, conceptual, and historical contributions that exemplify and expand the diverse methodological and thematic concerns of this extended interdisciplinary area. These might include contributions to:

* institutional histories of centers, sites, or events that have helped to concretize and engender the intersections between media, art, science and technology. Some broad areas could be: experimental arts spaces, collaborative research labs, significant exhibitions, etc.
* place studies that highlight significant locations or situations where such interdisciplinary intersections or significant historical episodes have occurred. A few examples might be: 'Tesla in Budapest', 'Flusser in Brazil', USSR in the 1920s, 'Japan between 1950s-1970s,’ etc.
* historiographical issues, methods, and debates that pose critical questions in the formulation of the histories of the ‘media arts’. These might include: archaeology, genealogy or variantology as methodological tools, bridging the divide between art and media history, sociologies of interactivity, etc.
* theoretical frameworks from various philosophical and disciplinary positions. Topics might include the exemplary role of film studies or musicology for the study of media arts, or the significance of cultural specificities and location in media and technologies, etc.
* the migration of knowledges and practices from different contexts, whether disciplinary, institutional, geographical or cultural. Topics might include: the role of migrant artists in the development of new discourses and practices; the movement and adoption of disciplinary ideas from science into art contexts or vice versa, etc.

Access the online submission form at:
http://www.mediaarthistory.org/ 
The DEADLINE for submissions is 15 January 2007.

general INFORMATION can be found at: 
http://tamtam.mi2.hr/replace 

replace 2007 is a project of Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH in cooperation with Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin. Funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds, Berlin.

Conference partners include LEONARDO, DATABASE OF VIRTUAL ART AT DANUBE UNIVERSITY KREMS' CENTER FOR IMAGE SCIENCE, LUDWIG BOLTZMANN INSTITUTE MEDIA.ART.RESEARCH, FORUM GOETHE INSTITUT, and others. 

Conference chairs: Andreas Broeckmann (D), Gunalan Nadarajan (SG/USA)


re:place 2007 Advisory Board

HONORARY BOARD
Rudolf ARNHEIM; Frank POPPER; Jasia REICHARDT; Itsuo SAKANE; Walter ZANINI

ADVISORY BOARD
Inke ARNS, Dortmund; Horst BREDEKAMP, Berlin; Paul BROWN, London/Cotton Tree; Annick BUREAUD, Paris; Dieter DANIELS, Leipzig; Sara DIAMOND, Toronto; Diana DOMINGUES, Caxias do Sul; Timothy DRUCKREY, New York; Jean GAGNON, Montreal; Oliver GRAU, Krems; Lydia HAUSTEIN, Berlin; Linda D. HENDERSON, Austin; Erkki HUHTAMO, Los Angeles; Douglas KAHN, Davis; Ángel KALENBERG, Montevideo; Ryszard KLUSZCZYNSKI, Lodz; Machiko KUSAHARA, Tokyo; Sarat MAHARAJ, London; Roger MALINA, Paris; W.J.T. MITCHELL, Chicago; Edward SHANKEN, Savannah; Barbara STAFFORD, Chicago; Christiane PAUL, New York; Jeffrey SHAW, Sydney; Peter WEIBEL, Karlsruhe; Steven WILSON, San Francisco; Siegfried ZIELINSKI, Cologne


best wishes for the holiday season,

Department for Image Science Team
Danube University Krems
"WHAT IS IMAGE SCIENCE?"  visit us and find out :: www.donau-uni.ac.at/cis

<=====  ARNHEIM-SCHOLARSHIP FOR REGINALD NJEMANZE  ============>

The Department for Image Sciences awarded for the first time the Rudolf Arnheim scholarship for the participation in the university course MediaArtHistories, MA, to the Nigerian artist Reginald Njemanze.
The academic sculptor, who was born in 1971 in Nigeria, expects from the participation on the postgraduate study MediaArtHistories a more theoretical base and new options of expressions for his artistic production. He sees the basis of his artistic work, which is presented more and more as multimedia-based in the history of media art, as a logical development of his production.

The Department for Image Science sees the scholarship - beside the support of an ambitious artist - as a possibility to encourage an examination of the contents with the theories of Rudolf Arnheim and the significance role he can play in the history of media art.

Further information:
http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/en/department/bildwissenschaft/news/id/09382/index.php 

<=====  MediaArtHistories, MA  ===========================>

On the 13th of November the first international master’s course in Media Art Histories started at the Department for Image Science with students from Hungary, USA, Switzerland, Nigeria and Austria.
The program is in English and part of the new international orientation of the Department for Image Science. The course allows parallel full-time employment and leads to the academic degree Master of Arts. It gives a review on the latest developments of media art and brings international experts such as Steve DIETZ, Erkki HUHTAMO, Lev MANOVICH, Christiane PAUL, Paul SERMON, Oliver GRAU, Edward SHANKEN, Gregor LECHNER, & Jens HAUSER  to Krems. 

On-site modules alternate with online learning, supported by online databases and other contemporary teaching methods. The courses aim is the professional teaching of media culture of recent time, to integrate it in our institutions and to develop strategies against its imminent loss. The modular structure of the program offers the possibility for prospective students to ENROLL IN THE COURSE AT MORE THAN ONE POINT IN THE CURRICULUM. 

Artists and programmers give new insights into the latest and most controversial software, interface developments and their interdisciplinary and intercultural praxis. Keywords are: Strategies of Interaction & Interface Design, Social Software, Immersion & Emotion, and Artistic Invention. Using online databases and other modern aids, knowledge of computer animation, net art, interactive, telematic and genetic art as well as the most recent reflections on bio & nano art, CAVE installations, augmented reality and locative media are introduced. 

Historical derivations that go far back into art and media history are tied in intriguing ways to digital art.  Key approaches and methods from Image Science, Media Archaeology and the History of Science & Technology will be discussed. Media Art History offers a basis for understanding evolutionary history of audiovisual media, from the Laterna Magica to the Panorama, Phantasmagoria, Film, and the Virtual Art of recent decades. 

Further information about the courses and application:
http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/mediaarthistories 
http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/mediaartpractice   

<==  OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS :  SCHOLARSHIP FOR FUTURE APPLICATIONS ========>

The Department for Image Science of the Danube University Krems opened an additional scholarship for the post graduate course MediaArtHistories, MA.

:: Interface Design and Future Applications Scholarship

This scholarship appeals to participants who are interested in research in the area of Interface Design.

Applications for the scholarships may be sent until February 15, 2007 in German or English. In order to support the regional cultural scene, artists from Lower Austria are especially invited to apply. Awarding of the scholarship is dependent on acceptance and enrollment in the MA course. 

Next start of MediaArtHistories is May 18, 2007.  Apply soon, course enrollment is limited.

Further information:
http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/mediaarthistories 

Please forward:

British Citizens (including expatriates) and Residents are invited to  
sign
the 'Science, Just Science' petition to prevent the use of  
creationist and other
pseudo-scientific propaganda in UK Government funded schools.

   http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/NoCreSciEd/

First Call for Abstracts: Deadline 31st of January 2007

MutaMorphosis: Challenging Arts and Sciences, International  
Conference, Prague

International Conference organised by CIANT as part of the ENTER
festival in the framework of the Leonardo 40th anniversary
celebrations. The festival will feature also the first retrospective
exhibition of Frank J. Malina.

8th - 10th of November 2007, Prague, Czech Republic

Conference website: http://www.mutamorphosis.org

The conference will explore the major mutations that are affecting
the future of our world. We invite papers from artists, scientists
and researchers on the evolution of living beings and the societies
they constitute, and on modes of knowledge, expression and
communication of humans, animals and other forms of life.

'MutaMorphosis' seeks a multiplicity of perspectives as well as a
qualified and diverse group of conference participants.  The
conference will concentrate on the growing interest -- within the
worlds of the arts, sciences and technologies -- in EXTREME AND
HOSTILE ENVIRONMENTS. These environments appear as symptomatic
indicators of the mutations that are taking place; they are potential
vectors that make possible an awareness of the different problems at
the origin of the disturbances that threaten the ensemble of the
Earth's eco-systems.

We invite practitioners in the arts, sciences, engineering and
humanities to submit abstracts that explore the limits and extremes
within the following streams of interest:

1. LIFE

How do the arts and sciences deal with new ideas about strategies of
life in extreme conditions?

Keywords: adaptation, artificial life, bioart, biotechnology, cell,
cloning, control, emergence, ethics, evolution, extremophilia,
hybrid, limit, organization, performativity, self-organization,
strategy, survival, symbiogenesis, symbiosis, tissue, transformation,
transgression, transplantation, unpredictability.

2. SPACE

How do the arts and sciences face radical scales and extreme  
environments?

Keywords: Antarctica, astrophysics, colonisation, climate, dark
matter, dark energy, deserts, deteritorialization, ethics,
exobiology, exploration, geotagging, globalization, map, macro,
micro, nano, singularity, outer space, speed, territory, underwater,
vacuum.

3. COGNITION

How do the arts and sciences address evolving ideas about cognition
in extreme environments?

Keywords: collective intelligence, complexity, connectivity,
decision, deficiency, distributed, ethics, intelligence, dysfunction,
emotion, efficiency, information, instrument, handicap, manipulation,
memory, mobility, networked, pathology, perception, sensorial,
simulation, system, therapy, visualization, web 2.0.

All submitted abstracts will be peer reviewed by an international
advisory panel. Submissions accepted and presented at the conference
will be published in the conference proceedings.

500-word abstracts required by 31st of January 2007 via email to
mutamorphosis@ciant.cz.

Join us in Prague 8th - 10th of November 2007.



Conference Steering Committee: Alban Asselin, Louis Bec, Annick
Bureaud, Don Foresta, Denisa Kera, Roger F. Malina (co-chair:
rfm.mutamorphosis@gmail.com), Louise Poissant, Pavel Sedlák
(co-chair: sedlak@ciant.cz), Pavel Smetana

Organiser: CIANT - International Centre for Art and New Technologies
in Prague (www.ciant.cz, CZ)

Co-organisers: Leonardo (www.leonardo.info, USA; www.olats.org, FR),
Hexagram (www.hexagram.org, CAN), Pépinières européenes pour jeunes
artistes (www.art4eu.net, FR)

Partners: Centre for Global Studies at Charles University
(http://cgs.flu.cas.cz, CZ), CYPRES Arts Sciences Technologies
Cultures (www.cypres-artech.org, FR), Czech Academy of Sciences -
Week of Science and Technology (www.avcr.cz/tydenvedy, CZ), French
Institute in Prague (www.ifp.cz, CZ), MARCEL (www.mmmarcel.org, GB),
UQAM (www.uqam.ca, CAN)

The Society for the History of Technology will hold its annual
meeting in Washington, D.C. from October 17-21, 2007. This meeting,
along with the following year's meeting in Lisbon, will celebrate the
50th anniversary of the founding of SHOT and of its journal, Technology
and Culture. The theme of both conferences will be SHOT@50: Looking
Back, Looking Beyond. To that end, the Program Committee seeks papers
or sessions for the 2007 meeting that concern the History of Technology
as it has been practiced in the past, and for the 2008 meeting as it may
or ought to be practiced in the future.

The Committee welcomes proposals for individual papers or
sessions, as well as works-in-progress from researchers of all stripes
(including graduate students, chaired professors, and independent
scholars). It also welcomes proposals from those new to SHOT, regardless
of discipline. The committee will also consider alternative venues for
presenting one's scholarship, such as poster sessions, short (8-minute)
quick sessions, author-meets-critics panels, discussion of
pre-circulated papers, and others.

Under the general theme of celebrating SHOT's past, several more
specific themes suggest themselves. These are outlined below. The
Committee is open to proposals not falling within these themes, but it
suggests these as possible topics for papers and sessions.

Historiography

Over the past 50 years members of SHOT have debated and discussed a
number of historiographic approaches to the discipline. How successful
have these approaches been in the past, and do they continue to serve us
well? If they do not, what alternate approaches might one adopt? What
has been the impact of computer and information technologies on
conducting research and disseminating its results? If information
technologies have "dissolved" traditional disciplines of engineering, as
several SHOT members argue, how has this affected our work? What has
been the effect of the increasing diversity among our members and
audience on the study of the History of Technology?

The Historian and Other Disciplines

In SHOT's early days a significant number of members were practicing or
retired engineers. Engineers remain welcome, although their numbers and
role in the Society have contracted. The Committee welcomes papers that
explore the ways that historians vs. engineers, and their respective
engineering societies, see the history of technology. Likewise, the
Committee seeks papers that explore the relationship between SHOT and
other societies that count historians of technology among their members,
e.g. the National Park Service, the branches of the military, the
Society for Industrial Archaeology, the Society of Architectural
Historians, etc. We welcome papers from members of those societies, or
from SHOT members who have interacted with them. Finally, the Committee
seeks papers that examine the relationship between SHOT and museums of
technology, a relationship that-as with engineers-- was once closer than
it is today. These include not only the major national museums of the
United States, the U.K., and Germany, but also a host of smaller,
specialized museums that deal with topics in the history of technology.

The Changing Context Since SHOT's Founding

SHOT was founded in the context of the Cold War, especially after the
orbiting of Sputnik implied a criticism of Western technology. How did
that context affect the practice of the history of technology? Has the
end of the Cold War meant that this context is no longer relevant to
SHOT's mission? How might the current conflicts around the world affect
the direction of scholarship? Computer and information technologies have
already been mentioned as affecting the practice of history. Papers or
sessions that explore "IT's" origins and ascendance in relation to other
technologies, ancient and modern, are welcome. Also welcome are papers
that address the relationship of other, "post-1957" technologies, such
as biotechnology, to technologies of an earlier era.

The deadline for submission is March 16, 2007.

Proposals for individual papers must include:

1) a one-page abstract (maximum 600 words)
2) a one-page curriculum vitae, including current postal and e-mail
addresses
3) a completed A/V equipment request form, available on the SHOT web
site http://www.historyoftechnology.org/fiftieth.html

Proposals for complete sessions must include:

1) a description of the session that explains how individual papers
contribute to an overall theme.
2) the names and paper titles of the presenters
3) for each presenter, a one-page summary (maximum 600 words) of the
paper's topic, argument(s), and evidence used
4) for the commentator, chair, and each presenter: one-page c.v., with
postal and e-mail addresses
5) for each presenter, a completed A/V equipment request form.

Please indicate if a proposal is sponsored by one of SHOT's special
interest groups.

Submission Instructions

1) Materials should be sent as a text attachments to a single e-mail
message to the Program Committee Chair, Paul Ceruzzi, at
ceruzzip@si.edu.

2) Each component of the proposal should be a separate attachment. Thus
an e-mail that proposes a single paper would have three attachments; an
e-mail that proposes a session could have up to a dozen or more
attachments.

3) Please adhere to the 600-word limit for all attachments. Use no
unusual fonts or special formatting, and save each attachment either as
a Microsoft Word document (.doc) or as a Rich Text Format (.rtf) file.
Nearly all word processing programs, including those used on the
Macintosh, can save text in the Rich Text Format. Do not use Adobe
Acrobat (pdf).

4) Save your proposal and name it with your last name and the word
"proposal," e.g. "smith_proposal.doc." Save your CV and equipment
request form in the same manner, e.g. "smith_vitae.doc" and
"smith_av.doc."

5) A session organizer should also attach a description of the overall
session and save it as an abstract, e.g. "jones_abstract.doc." If you
are organizing a session and proposing a paper in that session, you will
be attaching both an "abstract" and "proposal" with your name on them,
plus your c.v. and equipment request form.

6) If you are proposing a non-traditional session you may indicate that
in the "abstract." These also require an A/V requirements form and a
curriculum vitae.

General information

• SHOT rules do not allow multiple submissions (i.e. submitting
• more than one individual paper proposal, or proposing both an individual
  

• Sessions should be focused on a single topic, but a sessions
• members should represent a diversity of approaches. At the very least,
  

• Because of the unique nature of this and next year's meeting,
• SHOT is waiving its customary rule that prevents scholars from
  

• SHOT cannot guarantee the availability of digital projectors forall 
• sessions. Those with access to projectors are encouraged to bring
  

• Additional information can be found online at the SHOT web site:

More information:

Paul E. Ceruzzi
National Air & Space Museum
MRC 311; PO Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012
202-633-2414