[sci.virtual-worlds] Siemens/Munich Conference, IN CYBERSPACE, April 11-13, 1991

cyberoid@milton.u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson) (03/08/91)

IN CYBERSPACE

11-13 April 1991
Munich, Germany

        An event arranged by the Culture Board of the City of 
Munich in cooperation with the German Museum (Munich) and the 
Siemens Culture Program.  Concept and organization by Florian 
Rotzer and Peter Weibel.

        It is obvious that the further development of digital media 
is heading toward a compound of interconnected technologies, 
which aesthetically equals what could be termed a multimedial 
or hypermedial, all-embracing piece of art.  In this, it will be 
decisive that the man-machine interface is actually interactive, 
so that it integrates the conventional "spectator" sitting in front 
of a screen, picture, or stage, etc., as actor in the digitally 
generated scene -- and so makes possible a communication 
between the person and a programmed environment or between 
human beings, among themselves, in real time.

        The three dimensional, artificial, i.e., computer generated 
reality (cyberspace, virtual reality) has the new quality of 
creating a virtual symbiosis between a materialized reality, e.g., 
the body of a person with its activities and sensoric capacities, 
and a simulated reality:  an architecture to walk about in.  To 
create it is both a technical and an aesthetic problem, whatever 
the purpose might be, because a sensoric environment must be 
built up in which one can orientate oneself as usual and enter it 
as a free actor who may be surprised in dramatic scenes.

        The computer-generated world converts to a sphere of 
personal experience looked at from one's own perspective and 
controlled, e.g., by gestures, the position of the body, or by the 
voice.  So in this technology, no recognizable interfaces exist for 
the user, anymore.  As in the real world, the person moves his or 
her body to enter a different scene or to grasp an object.

        From the perspective proposed here, the primary 
proposition of a symposium looking into the future cannot be 
present works of the electronic and digital technology.  But above 
all, a theoretical platform has to be worked out, to master the 
aesthetic problems and challenges approaching us.  For the 
presentation of developments made possible by the technology of 
cyberspace, important preliminary work has been done at the 
symposium, "Ars Electronica 1990"; and so it is possible now to 
join on this.

        To inform about the present state and the possible 
developments of computer generated reality and discuss the 
aesthetic and artistic perspectives of this growing up 
technology, artists, scientists, and technicians are invited.

Speakers
========

Scott Fisher, Telepresence Research, USA
Kunst im Cyberspace

Mark Bolas, Fake Space Lab, USA
Zum Software Design von virtuellen Welten

Otto E. Rossler, Institut fur Physik und Theoretische Chemie an 
der Universitat Tubingen, Germany
Ist unsere Welt eine virtuelle Realitat?

Erich Kiefer, KI-Wissenschaftler mit Kunststudium, Germany
Vom intelligenten CAD-System zum intelligenten VR-System

Jurgen Brickman, Prof.f.Physikalische Chemie an der TH 
Darmstadt und Computerkunstler
Der Umgang mit virtuellen Szenarian ohne Bezug zur Realitat

Frank Popper, Kunsttheoretiker, France
Genealogie und Perspektiven der High-Tech Art

Peter Weibel, Bob O'Kane, Institut fur Neue Medien an der 
Stadeschule Frankfurt, Germany
Das tangible Bild.  The Endo-Approach to Electronics

Jonathan Waldern, W Industries, England

Y. Iwata, Tsukuba University, Japan

Peter Schroder, Thinking Machines, USA

Myron C. Krueger, Artificial Reality, USA
Die Kunst der kunstlichen Wirklichkeit

David Zeltzer, MIT Media Lab, USA
Vorstellung des virtuellen Umweltsystems des Medie Lab am MIT

Robert Jacobson, Human Interface Technology Lab, Washington 
Technology Center, USA
Die Potentiale der Cyberspace-Technologie fur die Mensch-
Computer Interaktion und die Kommunikation zwischen Menschen

Johannes Birringer, Professor fur Performance Praxis, 
Northwestern University, USA
Videokunst, Performance, Aktivismus:  Intervention in die 
Hyperrealitat

John G. Eyles, University of North Carolina, USA
Virtuelle Welten an der Universitat von North Carolina

Mitsuairo Takemura, Niaon University, Japan
Kulturelles Interface im Cyberspace

Louis Bec, ComputerKunstler, France
Fur eine Hypozoologie, Eine Asthetik der virtuellen Erzeugung 
kunstlichen Lebens

Vilem Flusser, Philosoph, France
Topologisches Denken statt geographischem Handeln

Fred Forrest, Medienkunstler, France
Die mediale Metapher als Reprasentation einer virtuellen Realitat

Edmond Couchot, ComputerKunstler, France
Zwischen dem Realen und dem Virtuellen:  eine Asthetik der 
Hybridation

Ann Lasko-Harvill, VPL Research, USA
Selbstdarstellung und Identitat in der virtuellen Realitat

For more information, contact:

Prof. Peter Weibel
Director of the Institute for New Media
at the Staatl.Honsch.f.Bild.Kunste
Hanauer Landstrasse 204
D-6000 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

Tel:  (49) (69) 44 50 36
Fax:  (49) (69) 43 92 01

[Sorry for the German titles, but my translations would be harder 
to deal with than the originals!  -- Bob Jacobson]