Please note that because we will be producing 48 issues this year, (instead of 52) there will be no issue of Arts Wire CURRENT next week. However the Job listings -- http://www.artswire.org/current/jobs.html -- and the Opportunities Page -- http://www.artswire.org/current/calls.html -- will be updated as usual.

Now, if they do not support a Department focusing on some aspect of the electronic arts, most Universities feature at least one or two courses in this area.

Ellen Staller, Manager of Fellowships and Placement, at the College Art Association (CAA) reports that in the job listings placed at CAA's annual conference, Sculpture, Painting, Photography and Digital/New Media positions were represented in about equal numbers. "It is impressive to see that New Media positions have as much of a presence in visual art departments now as these much more established mediums," she comments.

In addition to the addition of new courses and/or departments in the digital arts, many institutions are experiencing increased student interest.

"Our applications far outrun our ability to accept the number of students who apply, says Red Burns, Chair of the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

ITP has a continuing interest in defining new media through experimentation and imagination she notes. "Our students come from very different disciplines and cultures, work collaboratively to try and make visible what wasn't visible before. Architects work with computer scientists who work with industrial designers who work with electrical engineers who work with graphic designers who work with writers and musicians, etc."

At the Electronic Intermedia program at University of Florida, although the program is relatively small with one and one-half faculty, it has grown to serve some of the largest numbers of undergraduates in any area of the arts school, according to program coordinator Will Pappenheimer.

"It is been limited primarily by its facilities which will now begin to expand," he adds.

Steven Wilson, Chair of the Conceptual/Information Arts Program at San Francisco State, founded in 1978, also reports that interest in the program has grown enormously.

However, Wilson also points out that student interest has become more vocational and that the proliferation of digital art offerings can be confusing for students negotiating the intersection of acquiring technology skills and the art making process. "We are really interested in those who want to work on the edges of emerging research," he told Arts Wire.

Another indication of increasing acceptance of the computer arts in the academia is curriculum inclusion of art history courses in the field. For instance, the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) at Ohio State offers "A Critical History of Computer Graphics", a course which provide an historical overview of the development of computer generated imagery. At Georgia Tech, a "Survey of Music Technology" traces the development of sound and electronic music from Pythagoras' scale in 500 B.C. to currently available high-tech audio hardware. At Carnegie Mellon University, art and technology is included in the Art Department's survey course "Contemporary Visual Culture; 1945 to the Present."

Recurrent themes in this coming-of-age field are the building of new centers and the integration of electronic arts departments with other sectors of the University.

At Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, (RPI) in Troy, NY, a new Electronic Media and Performing Arts Center will provide a campus focus for exhibitions and performances as well as facilitate access to state-of-the-art new media technologies. The Center will also encourage the integration of electronic media and artistic endeavors in which technology is not the central focus.

At the University of California at Irvine, the Beall Center for Art and Technology opened on October 17th, 2000 as a showplace for the digital arts and other new technologies in the arts. The Center is dedicated to furthering the relationship between these technologies and the arts by combining the intellectual technological resources of the University in a program of interdisciplinary collaborations between artists, scientists, and engineers -- as well as in providing a venue for the creation and exhibition of new forms in the media arts and encouraging artistic exploration and experimentation in digital technologies.

At Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, the five year old Stanford University Digital Art Center (SUDAC) states that "By focusing artistic creativity on information manipulation, digital art maintains the human element in technological progress, and serves as a connection between disciplines. The vitality of such connections is essential to the enhancement of human experiences through technology." The center, a program of the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford, is sponsored by Intel Corporation, Alias|Wavefront, and by the Department of Computer Science.

SUDAC's core role is to provide Stanford University with a center for teaching and research in digital art. Courses currently taught emphasize collaborative work on art projects such as public installations and computer graphics movies.

The School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City, one of the first colleges to offer an MFA degree in computer art, emphasizes that "computers demand a fresh approach to educating the artists who will supply the creative force driving this relatively new medium."

In addition to advanced training in the latest in computer hardware and software, the program focuses on conceptual development, and on promoting creativity through a process of regular critique. SVA's umbrella approach to the creative use of digital technology includes study in one of four major disciplines -- interactive media, telecommunications, animation, or installations -- as well as interface with studies in many related fields, such as fine art, illustration, design, photography, and video. SVA also offers a BFA in Computer Art.

Columbia College Chicago, which offers an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts, has this year has added an MFA in Interdisciplinary Media Arts, according to artist Andrea Polli, Associate Professor, Academic Computing. Students in this major work with visual artists, writers, theatre professionals, film-makers, dancers, and musicians, and present their thesis work in an exhibition and performance series held at one of Columbia's many public gallery and performance spaces.

For undergraduates, Columbia College offers an interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts degree in Interactive Multimedia and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Digital Media, plus there are two minor options for students studying in other disciplines who would like to specialize in an area of Digital Media --- a minor in E-Commerce, and a minor in Web Technology.

"The student body of Columbia is incredibly diverse, we are a reflection of the Chicago community, attracting students from all walks of life," Andrea Polli notes. "I find this creates a very engaging dialogue both in and out of the classroom. The Columbia mission is to 'Author the Culture of our Time' which I think sums up the importance of Digital Media to the college community."

Rather than form separate Departments, many institutions are integrating electronic arts courses into their studio art curriculum. For instance, at Wellesley College in Wellesley MA, courses include "Electronic Imaging", taught by Naomi Ribner, which introduces students to the basic skills required to use the computer as an art-making tool, and examines the impact of the computer on art and artists. In this course, photography, drawing, collage, and printmaking are used as a foundation and as reference points, and there is an opportunity to mix traditional and electronic media in final projects.

The increased academic attention in the field not only broadens the art curriculum, opens avenues of academic employment for digital artists, and provides workplace skills for artists, but potentially, it also helps digital artists by exposing students to work of artists in the field.

"I think that rooting the electronic literature movement in academic environments will be absolutely vital to the growth of the field," observes Scott Rettberg, Executive Director of the Electronic Literature Organization. "Pioneering programs, like Brown University's digital writing program, UC Santa Barbara's Transcriptions project, The New School University's hypertext workshops, and the University of Florida's classes on electronic textuality, are already helping both to bring new authors to this grand experiment, and to provide a critical framework to help students learn new ways to analyze and appreciate these nascent forms of literature."

A few University-situated digital arts/new media Departments are profiled below. Others are included in the Resources section. This is not meant to be a definitive survey, but is rather an introduction which documents varying approaches to a flourishing new discipline.

Additionally, art institute programs -- such as the Art and Technology program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago -- will be profiled in a future issue of Arts Wire Current.

A pioneering graduate center for the study and design of new communications media forms and applications, ITP is "a unique and vital contributor of new ideas and talented individuals to the emerging professional world of multimedia and telecommunications." The program is guided by a hands-on approach to learning that relies on collaboration rather than competition in an environment where exploration, analysis, risk and failure can freely occur. Emphasizing the user's creativity rather than the machine, the program challenges students to combine ideas and the tools of computers,video, sound, graphics, animation, and text in new and imaginative ways.

"We are broadening our interests in physical computing as well as embedded and ubiquitous computing -- combining physical with virtual worlds," chair Red Burns told Arts Wire. "Students are invited to create 'something' in which the input device is not a mouse. Sensors, light, sound are some of the input devices used."

Faculty include Henry Bar-Levav, President, Oven Digital; Sergio Canetti, Director of Systems Integration & Testing, Bell Atlantic Science and Technology; Stacy Horn, the founder of Echo; Tom Igoe, theater lighting and technology, digital multimedia; Steven Johnson, Editor-In-Chief and Co-Publisher, FEED Magazine; Daniel O'Sullivan, a pioneer of navigable movies on the Macintosh; Marianne Petit, printmaking; and Sharleen Smith, VP of the Convergence Lab, Oxygen Media.

Courses in the program include: "Applications of Interactive Telecommunications Systems"; "Telecommunications in Transition"; "Advanced Web Design"; "Animation and Game Techniques in Flash"; "Digital Sound Workshop/MIDI"; "Experimental Digital Video"; "Foundations of Generative Art Systems"; "Interaction Design"; "Interactive Computing in Public Places"; "Interactivity and Children"; "Interactivity and Narrative"; "Sonic Design for Information Environments"; "Multimedia Workshop"; "Social Applications of Internet Technology"; "Starting a Company in Today's Market Conditions"; "Storytelling in the Age of Digital Technology"; and "Virtual Culture."

"ITP's goal is to train a new kind of professional: one whose understanding of technology is informed by a strong sense of aesthetics and ethics," the program states. "Graduate students come from a rich mix of disciplines, cultures and experiences. They enter with backgrounds in such diverse fields as music composition, sculpture, writing, biology, library science, law, cultural theory, architecture, dance and computer science. Men and women are equally represented, as are cultures from Eastern Europe to East Asia, from South America to Canada and several regions of the United States.

In the 1970's and 1980's, ITP Chair Burns designed and directed a series of telecommunications projects including two-way television for and by senior citizens, telecommunications applications to serve the developmentally disabled, and one of the first field trials of Teletext in the US. The ITP program began in 1979. "Despite our age," she emphasizes, "we are still pioneering and challenging students to imagine and create."

"New technologies affect the relationship of artists to their work. The digital media are leading to the evolution of a new aesthetic," observes Bruce Ferguson, Dean of the School of the Arts at Columbia University. (in a video Interview available on the School of the Arts web site)

Facilities and Programs at Columbia University include The Digital Media Center; The Computer Music Center; and The Interactive Design Lab.

Directed by Brad Garton, The Computer Music Center offers instructional, studio, and research facilities in electronic and computer music to students and faculty in the School of the Arts and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; to the University's undergraduate schools; and to visiting composers and scholars. It also acts as consultant to other computer and electronic music centers throughout the world. Staff and visiting composers realize compositions of great variety, including scores for television, theater, film and dance. Performances of music produced at the Center, including student works, are given in locations around the metropolitan area in addition to the Kathryn Bache Miller Theatre of Columbia University.

The Interactive Design Lab, (IDL) a partnership of the School of the Arts and the Graduate School of Journalism, is a research center dedicated to the study of design for interactive media and communications. The IDL chooses projects which help define and advance the emerging field of Interactive Design, drawing on the two schools' unique range of expertise in traditional media. Students with advanced interests and skills in new media can become involved with IDL.

The Digital Media Center is a $2 million facility which provides training for students working in such areas as computer graphics, interactive authoring, motion graphics, 3-D modeling, animation, digital video editing, and Web authoring. "The Center itself is an affirmation of Columbia's dedication to providing a creative and intellectual center for artistic achievement using leading-edge digital technologies," they state.

Visual digital arts courses (undergraduate/graduate) offered at Columbia include: "The Digital Image"; "Interactive Design"; "Game Design"; "Introduction to Digital Media"; "The Culture of Digital Media"; "Digital Documentary Photography"; "Motion Graphics"; "New Media Narrative"; and "The Business of Interactive Media". Faculty include Jon Kessler, Chair Visual Arts Division; Digital Media Center Director Ronald Jones and digital artist Chan Schatz.

The Division promotes the idea of interdisciplinary collaboration not only within Visual Arts but with Film, Writing, and Theatre, the other Divisions that comprise the School of the Arts.

The Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) at Ohio State has been involved in research and instruction in computer graphics, animation and emerging media for nearly three decades.

The Center has an interdisciplinary character and combines scientific investigation with aesthetic ideals. While it is administratively located in the College of the Arts, ACCAD provides leadership in advanced technology, computer graphics, multimedia, and animation development to support instruction and research in both the arts and the sciences.

Faculty include computer art pioneer Chuck Csuri, computer mediated art; Barb Helfer, multimedia; Midori Kitagawa, 3D modeling, animation and visualization; Ken Rinaldo, art and technology; and Judith Koroscik, learning in the visual arts.

Courses are computer graphics dominated. they range from "A Critical History of Computer Graphics", which provides an historical overview of the development of the discipline of computer generated imagery (CGI), including CAD, computer animation, computer art and scientific visualization to "Advanced Digital Cinematography", which provides a study of the applicable mathematical models, as well as addressing the issues of visual storytelling through the application of cinematic techniques in the digital domain. Other courses are "3-D Computer Modeling Applications for Artists and Designers"; "Programming for Artists and Designers"; "Digital Media Production"; and "Building 3D Virtual Environments".

The Center has academic and research ties to all departments within the College of the Arts as well as to other departments and colleges throughout the University, and the program gives faculty and graduate students in the arts the opportunity to collaborate with researchers from other areas to pursue technology related interests.

Graduate students studying at ACCAD are admitted to degree programs in one of several different departments. For example, there are degree programs in the Departments of Art; (MFA) Art Education; (MA and PhD) Design; (MA and MFA) and Computer and Information Science. (MS and PhD)

Started in the early 90's by artist Simon Penny, The Electronic Intermedia program at the University of Florida has always been an interdisciplinary program -- drawing from expertise in sculpture and photography as backgrounds to creating 2D, 3D and 4D works in time based media.

"Since I have been its area coordinator starting fall of 1998, we have focused on video as a central time based media that is connected to performance, sculpture, installation, photography and the Digital Arts," Will Pappenheimer, Area Coordinator, Electronic Intermedia School of Art and Art History, told Arts Wire. "This year we are entering a collaboration with a new institute at the University of Florida called Digital Worlds Institute. We have created a specialized digital lab for high end time based digital media which will be shared by our two programs."

The Electronic Intermedia program is founded on the concept of interdisciplinary arts, and is integrated primarily with the areas of photography and sculpture. It will now also share close ties with the Digital World's Institute, Pappenheimer said. Many students also exchange classes from the Film And Media Studies area in the English Department.

Courses include "Computer Art: Montage"; "Video Art: Montage"; "Computer Art: Animation and Interactivity"; "Machine Sculpture; Performance and Installation"; and "Video Art Production and Post Production".

Founded in 1978 by Bryan Rogers and Jim Storry, the Conceptual/Information Arts Program, San Francisco State University stresses integration of intuitive approaches typical of the arts with structured processes of research, planning, and critical analysis more characteristic of other disciplines such as the humanities, science, and technology. It promotes non-conventional art media, new media, and the movement of artists into non-art contexts -- supporting artistic activities at the frontiers of scientific inquiry and technological research.

The program is focused on ideas rather than media -- design in a Buckminster Fuller sense of total systems," explains Chair Stephen Wilson.

Students are expected to learn and use processes of planning and problem solving typical of disciplines outside the arts when appropriate. They are encouraged to bring ideas, materials, and experiences from outside the art world to become focuses for their art; challenged to combine traditional media and to incorporate new media; and encouraged to follow their ideas and artistic impulses even if they don't take them into traditional validated art directions.

Faculty have included Donald Day, Paul DeMarinis, George Legrady, Paula Levine, Alan Rath, Sara Roberts, Chris Robbins, and Pamela Z Current courses include "Conceptual/Information Arts, Introduction to Art & Technology"; "Art and Emerging technologies:"; "Word and Image"; and "Advanced Lingo".

"There is great opportunity for art to function as the independent zone of research, following inquiries that are not yet validated; things not yet," Wilson observes.

Although (as far as Arts Wire Current knows) there is no University Department dedicated completely to computer-mediated literature, hyperfiction publisher Eastgate Systems lists courses at about 45 institutions nationwide. As publishers rapidly enter the ebook field but predominantly transport print models and titles with megabuck potential, these courses in electronic literature-- from Dartmouth to the University of Minnesota to the University of Hawaii at Manoa -- are an important stronghold for experimental electronic literature.

Bill Bly, who has been teaching Electronic Literature since the spring of 1999 at Fordham University in New York City, notes that initially much student interest comes from communication majors who "not so secretly lust after the big bucks of e-business.

"But I use the occasion to evangelize for Hypertext (HT) literature," Bly adds.

"Their response? Well, at first, if they've ever heard the words hypertext and literature uttered in the same sentence, most think of Stephen King and THE PLANT, and the couple in each class who've built their own websites have usually experimented with putting their own writings up there," says Bly, whose chapbook WYRMES METE, is slated to appear in the forthcoming EASTGATE ANTHOLOGY OF HYPERTEXT POETRY. "However, I'd say that all of the hypertexts I present are news to them, as is the idea of nonlinear narrative with multiple endings, multivalent storytelling, and the 'lack' of closure. But the good news is that they're not doctrinaire, and seem to take to reading HT pretty naturally."

At the end of the term, when they must build hypertexts of their own, about half of his students attempt an original story or a web of poems, while the rest render something linear into hypertext form. "In both cases, I'm often pleased by their ingenuity and resourcefulness," he emphasizes.

At Dartmouth University, Brenda Silver teaches "Postmodern Fiction: Boxes, Labyrinths, and Webs" -- using Jorge Luis Borges' short story "The Garden of Forking Paths" as metaphor for "that strand of postmodern fiction that has increasingly challenged traditional narrative structures, including the recent genre of electronic hypertext fiction." Readings include both print fiction and electronic literature.

At the University of Hawaii in an "Electron Lit: Hypertext Theory and Practice" course, Jaishree Odin's class explores contemporary hypertext literature. Students are asked to make a semi-formal presentation of a published hypertext, and to write and present a final project -- either a formal paper on an important issue in the field, or else a prototype of an original work of hypertext fiction or poetry.

In "Electronic Literature and Culture" at the University of Minnesota, Rita Raley asks students: "In what ways is the 'literary' relevant to the Information Age?" One premise of this course, she notes "is that literature is by no means an antiquated cultural form relegated to the obsolescent spheres of print -- it has instead virtually morphed in response to the new electronic culture, and we will investigate how it has done so. We will also discuss the relations between text and image; post-humanism; cyborgs and the technology of reproduction; simulation and the simulacrum; the tropes and figures of electronic culture; the digital condition; techno-paranoia; 'making do' and the figure of the hacker; the theoretical and cultural antecedents of hypertext; the end of the book question; the anamorphic text; the stylistics of hypertextual narrative; and the general problem of aesthetics in relation to 'Information.'"

Emphasizing that he applauds any program, be it in English, Art, Communication, or Design, that is taking electronic literature seriously as a field of study, Scott Rettberg, Executive Director of the Electronic Literature Organization, told Arts Wire Current that "I'm personally hoping that more creative writing programs will start to offer classes in the area for students who are yearning to engage the interactive capabilities of the electronic media in the process of storytelling."

Sources/Resources:

COLLEGE ART ASSOCIATION (CAA) -- http://www.collegeart.org
Among many other resources, The site currently features CAW PART-TIME TEACHER SURVEY RESULTS

INTERACTIVE TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM, (ITP) TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY -- IMAGINE, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
http://www.arch.gatech.edu/imagine

CARNEGIE MELON UNIVERSITY (CMU) SCHOOL OF ART -- http://www-art.cfa.cmu.edu/academic/descriptions.html

CMU STUDIO FOR CREATIVE INQUIRY -- http://www.cmu.edu/studio/overview/index.html
supports experimental and cross-disciplinary work in the arts

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT IRVINE (UCI) -- http://www.arts.uci.edu

UCI BEALL CENTER -- http://beallcenter.uci.edu/mission/mission.htm

RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE (RPI) -- http://www.rpi.edu

SUDAC, STANFORD UNIVERSITY -- http://www.stanford.edu/dept/art/SUDAC

MASTER OF FINE ART COMPUTER ART, SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS -- http://www.sva.edu/mfacad/mfacad.html

WELLESLEY COLLEGE ART DEPARTMENT-- http://www.wellesley.edu/Art/index.html

BROWN UNIVERSITY -- http://www.brown.edu

SCHOOL OF THE ARTS AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY -- http://www.columbia.edu/cu/arts

THE ELECTRONIC INTERMEDIA PROGRAM, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA -- http://www.arts.ufl.edu/art/eimissionstatement.html

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY MEDIA RESEARCH LAB -- http://www.mrl.nyu.edu

IMAGING ARTS: PHOTOGRAPHY, COMPUTER ANIMATION, FILM (MFA) ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY -- http://www.rit.edu/~625www/grad_art_photo.htm

ELECTRONIC IMAGING, NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY -- http://art.nmu.edu/department/EI.html

CADRE LABORATORY, SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN AT SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY -- http://cadre.sjsu.edu/

KATHERINE K. HERBERGER COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY -- http://www.herbergercollege.asu.edu

MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN ELECTRONIC MUSIC & RECORDING MEDIA, MILL COLLEGE-- http://www.mills.edu/ACAD_INFO/MUS/MUS_GR/musgr.homepage.html

EASTGATE SYSTEMS -- http://www.eastgate.com

ELECTRONIC LITERATURE ORGANIZATION -- http://www.eliterature.org/

"Hypertext: Theory and Practice (aka Electron Lit)"
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY -- http://www.infomonger.com/bbly/fordham/electronlitF00.html-

"Stephen King Launches Self Published Online Serial for Pay"
Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2000/cur080100.html
August 1, 2000

"Postmodern Fiction: Boxes, Labyrinths, and Webs"
DARTMOUTH UNIVERSITY -- http://www.dartmouth.edu/~english/courses/topicsems_99s.html

"Electron Lit: Hypertext Theory and Practice"
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII -- http://www2.hawaii.edu/~odin/

"Electronic Literature and Culture"
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA -- http://www.tc.umn.edu/~raley/courses/ELC/

ACM SIGGRAPH -- http://www.siggraph.org
The site includes links to computer graphics organizations and institutions

YAHOO -- http://www.yahoo.com
The Arts & Humanities section includes education links

RACE IN DIGITAL SPACE

Many discussions of the "digital divide" erase the numerous contributions of minority artists, activists, entrepreneurs, journalists, and scholars. Researchers in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Program in Comparative Media Studies and the University of Southern California's (USC) Annenberg Center for Communication will host a three-day conference, RACE IN DIGITAL SPACE to explore current issues and celebrate the accomplishments of minorities using digital technologies.

"The time has come to focus on the success stories, to identify examples of work that has increased minority access to information technologies and visibility in digital spaces," observes Henry Jenkins, professor, director of Comparative Media Studies at MIT.

"The ways in which we represent ourselves and use digital media raises significant issues," adds Anna Everett, professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. "We need to begin exploring answers to such important questions as 'What cultural and social baggage do we carry into the digital domain?' and 'How have minority communities deployed digital tools to comment on digital culture, to reconfigure the history of racism, and to claim a more powerful voice in shaping the future?'"

Plenary panels will explore such issues as: E-Race-ing the Digital; How Wide is the Digital Divide; Authenticating Digital Art, Expression and Cultural Hybridity; and Speculative Fictions/Imaging the Future. Breakout sessions, designed for focused conversations with smaller groups of conference participants, will address: Art and Hactivism; Funding the Arts-Creative Capital; Digital Business-From Netrepreneurs to Corporations; Hactivist Workshop-Organizing the Million Women March; Hate Speech; Job Opportunities and Training; and Community Best Practices. A keynote will be presented by Walter Massey, president of Morehouse College.

Confirmed speakers include: Karen Radney Buller, President, National Indian Telecommunications Institute; Farai Chideya, Editor, PopandPolitics.com; Mel Chin, Artist; Ricardo Dominguez, Co-founder, The Electronic Disturbance Theater; Coco Fusco, Associate Professor, Tyler School of Art, Temple University; Jack Gravely, Office of Workplace Diversity, Federal Communications Commission; Lisa Nakamura, Assistant Professor of English, Sonoma State University; Elizabeth Nunez, Distinguished Professor of English, Medgar Evers College, CUNY; u ya Salaam, Poet and Community Activist; and Ana Sisnett, Austin Free-Net.

In coordination with the conference, a concurrent video show and digital salon is hosted at the LIST Center for the Visual Arts. Curated by Erika Muhammad, Ph.D. candidate in Cinema Studies at New York University, (NYU) the exhibition will feature the work of innovators and visionary film, video, new media, and website designers whose work deals specifically with the intersection of race and technology.

A performance event featuring DJs and live video mixing by Vivek Bald; (DJ Siraiki) Beth Coleman; (aka DJ Singe) and Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky) will be held for conference participants and students on the evening of April 28. MIT Assistant Professor Tommy DeFrantz will perform MY DIGITAL BODY, an original dance piece developed for the event.

The Race in Digital Space Project is organized by the University of Southern California and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in conjunction with New York University and University of California at Santa Barbara. The conference is sponsored by USC Annenberg Center for Communication, USC School of Cinema-Television, MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, MIT Program in Comparative Media Studies, MIT Communications Forum, MIT Council for the Arts, MIT LIST Visual Arts Center, MIT Program in Women's Studies, and the NYU Department of Cinema Studies. Major financial support has been provided by the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation. Microsoft is an in-kind sponsor.

All events are free and open to the public. To learn more and register, visit http://cms.mit.edu/race

OFF-LINE OFF-SITE Thundergulch presentation: DATA DYNAMICS

Artists Sawad Brooks and Beth Stryker; Mark Napier; Marek Walczak and Martin Wattenberg; Maciej Wisniewski; and Adrianne Wortzel, whose works are included in the exhibition, participate in a panel in association with the exhibition of Internet art DATA DYNAMICS, curated by Christiane Paul, at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

At the Whitney (both on and offline) through June 10, 2001, Data Dynamics focuses on the search for visual models that represent a continuously changing flow of data and information -- offering navigational possibilities for experiencing visual and textual information. Each of the works focuses on different dynamics of data, whether in the context of mapping language, stories, memories, or traffic in physical and virtual spaces.

Connecting with various venues and organizations around New York City, Thundergulch's OFF-LINE OFF-SITE is a roving series of presentations by cutting-edge artists who are pushing the boundaries of making art connected to new technology.

Sources/resources:

THUNDERGULCH WEB SITE -- http://www.thundergulch.org
Email: tgulch@artswire.org

WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART -- http://www.whitney.org
Also currently at the Whitney is BITSTREAMS, an exhibition of over 60 artists working in digital media.

SONY WONDER TECHNOLOGY LAB -- http://www.sonywondertechlab.com

Electronic Business Innovationszentrum:
NET ART GUIDE

In conjunction with its opening in Stuttgart, Germany, the Electronic Business Innovation center (EBIC) compiled a NET ART GUIDE. (Fraunhofer IRB Verlag, 2000) They looked for work which "gets to grips with the Internet, in its content as well as its form" -- including completely net situated works such as Reiner Strasser's THE DIVER'S GRAVE -- http://repoem.tripod.com/gr/gr_i.html --- "Starting from the central image...five windows or series of windows open up and emblematize in reverse sequence birth, life and death."

They also looked for installations with net components such as Mathilde muPe's SING YOUR WAY THROUGH WWW -- http://www.xs4all.nl/~oertijd/index.htm -- in which participants "discover their true multimedia star capacity by using vocal tones to navigate through the web." Included among many other entries are:

David Knoebel
MORE JOY -- http://www.clickpoetry.com/morejoy/morejoy.html
The web documentation of a poetry installation along a three mile stretch of Route 4875 between Elysburg and Paxinos PA. The installation appeared among signs of similar size and format planted by politicians just before an election. The web documentation consists of a road map with clickable points that correspond to the location of each sign.

Kunstlerkollektiv bump
BUMP -- http://www.bump.at
A catwalk is installed in the public space of two separate cities. If a person steps onto this catwalk his/her weight triggers off an impulse which is transferred into the other city by means of a dataline. "A passer-by becomes aware of the knocking pistons, she/he sees the boards moving and when he/she steps into the catwalk she/he will feel the footsteps of a person in a different city bump..."

Plus work by etoy, Monika Fleischmann, Steven Greenwood, Judy Malloy, Mark Napier, Old Boys Network, Nancy Paterson, Avi Rosen, Alexi Shulgin, Eva Wohlgemuth, and much more.

The Guide documents the selected works with text, illustrations, and biographical material for the artists. For ordering information, visit http://www.iao.fhg.de/e/shop/suche.hbs
The Guide will be available on the Internet soon at http://www.e-business.fhg.de

Deadline: May 15, 2001 - THE MANHATTAN GRAPHICS CENTER will offer a grant for the fall 2001 term which begins in mid-September 2001. Any artist who has not previously worked at the Center is eligible to apply. Printmaking experience is not required. Etching, silkscreen, and lithography facilities are available. For information, send an SASE to: Scholarship Committee, Manhattan Graphics Center, 481 Washington Street, New York, NY 10013.

Deadline: May 27, 2001 - PAINTING SPACE 122 is accepting applications for its one-year Project Studio Spaces program. Studios are available from October 1, 2001 through September 30, 2002. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional professional working artists with a NYC area residence should apply. Studios are available for a low monthly rent. To receive an application by mail, send an SASE to: Painting Space 122, 150 First Avenue, New York, NY 10009, Attn: Project Space Application. Or pick up an application from PS 122 Gallery at 150 First Avenue (entrance on 9th Street) during gallery hours: Thursday through Sunday, 12-6.

Deadline: June 1, 2001 - THE FROMM MUSIC FOUNDATION provides commissions as well as subsidies for the performance and recording of commissioned works. For information, contact: Fromm Music Foundation, Department of Music, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138; or phone (617) 495-2791.

WASHINGTON. DC -- The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will receive a $2.5 million gift from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in support of NEH's Regional Humanities Centers Initiative.

The gift, the single largest ever awarded to the NEH by a private sector donor, will help create a nationwide network of 10 major regional centers dedicated to preservation, research and lifelong learning about the heritage and cultures of America's regions.

"NEH has come up with a superbly creative idea built on an enduring truth about our vast country," said Hodding Carter, president and CEO of Knight Foundation, which promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of US communities. "We are a land of many regions and peoples, and our culture reflects that diversity. Knight Foundation is delighted to be participating with NEH in building an innovative approach to that national reality."

NEH is seeking to raise a total of $50 million over five years from foundations, corporations, individual philanthropists and Congress to underwrite grants to 10 educational institutions, to be selected on a competitive basis, to implement plans for regional humanities centers. Each regional center finalist will be required to raise its own funds to match the implementation grant, 3 to 1, priming it to play a major role as steward and educator for the region's share of America's heritage.

Last year, NEH raised nearly $1 million from private donors to make planning grants to two universities in each of the 10 regions identified for the NEH initiative. The 20 grants were awarded on the basis of each institution's existing resources; capacity for original research and documentation of regional heritage; plans for educational outreach to schools; communities and cultural tourists; and commitment to creating regionwide partnerships. Institutions that have been awarded planning grants are:

• PACIFIC (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands) San Francisco State University; Calif. University of California, Davis

• SOUTHWEST (Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas) Arizona State University, Tempe; Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos

• ROCKY MOUNTAINS (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming) University of Montana, Missoula; University of Utah, Salt Lake City

• PLAINS (Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota) North Dakota State University, Fargo; University of Nebraska, Lincoln

• UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY (Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin) Northern Illinois University, DeKalb; University of Wisconsin, Madison

• CENTRAL (Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia) Michigan State University, East Lansing; Ohio University, Athens

• DEEP SOUTH (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee) Tulane University, New Orleans; University of Mississippi, Oxford

• SOUTH ATLANTIC (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands) College of Charleston, SC; University of Virginia, Charlottesville/ Virginia Foundation for the Humanities

• MID-ATLANTIC (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia) Temple University, Philadelphia, PA/ Rutgers University, Camden, NJ; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

• NEW ENGLAND (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont) Brown University, Providence, RI; University of New Hampshire-Durham

  Sources/Resources:

  THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES (NEH)-- http://www.neh.gov

  JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT FOUNDATION -- http://www.knightfdn.org

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  Opportunities for Artists

  WHITNEY MUSEUM LAUNCHES DIGITAL ARTS WEBSITE AND PORTAL

  The Whitney Museum of American Art has launched artport.whitney.org -- a website designed as a portal to Internet art and the digital arts worldwide, and as an online gallery space for new and specially commissioned net and digital art.

  Organized and curated by Christiane Paul, the Whitney's adjunct curator of new media arts, the site will eventually will provide both a comprehensive resource of net art and access to original art works created specifically for the site and commissioned by the Whitney.

  The web space will include an artists/projects database, with links to net art projects which have been created since the beginning of web-based art. A digital artist will be invited each month to present their work -- for example, in the form of a splash page with links to the artist's most important projects. The first monthly splash page has been created by artist Andy Deck.

  A resources archive, will link to virtual galleries and museums on the web, past net art exhibitions, events, as well as net art publications on the Web. This archive will evolve as new organizations and resources are added.

  Also included are a gallery/exhibition space, where future net art/digital arts exhibitions will be shown and past exhibitions, are archived; and a collection area that archives the works of net art and digital art in the Whitney Museum's holdings.

  To visit the portal, go to: http://artport.whitney.org

  CURRENT CALLS

  Details about these and other opportunities are available on Arts Wire's Web Site at http://www.artswire.org/current/calls.html To submit "calls" for either artists or organizations, send email to artswire@artswire.org

  Deadline: April 16, 2001, public art - a five to seven minute public feature that uses the graphic display system and related audio and theatrical lighting systems, LIGHTSCAPES II - The City of Las Vegas Arts Commission

  Deadline: May 1, 2001, artistic conceptions, utopias and ideas, for installation in containers in German Coal Mine - GEGENORT - THE VIRTUAL MINE

  Deadline: May 25, 2001, public art - audio and digital artists, Art in State Buildings Program of Florida - UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA'S WEIMER HALL ADDITION, which houses UF's WUFT-TV and WUFT-FM

  Deadline: July 2, 2001, new work from established/new writers and companies for a festival of new theatre, JUST DESSERTS THEATRE FESTIVAL, UK

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  JOB OPPORTUNITIES

  CURRENT JOB LISTINGS

  Details about these and other jobs are available on Arts Wire's Web Site at http://www.artswire.org/current/jobs.html To submit jobs to ARTS WIRE CURRENT JOBS, send email to joblist@artswire.org

  EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, Manitoga, The Russel Wright Design Center, (Garrison, NY)

  ARTS/INDUSTRY COORDINATOR, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, (Sheboygan, WI)

  EDITOR, ART PAPERS Magazine, (Atlanta, GA)

  DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS, "Piedmont" Museums, (Rock Hill, SC)

  CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, Arts Center for Newaygo County, (Fremont, MI)

  EXHIBITIONS COORDINATOR, Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions, (Pasadena, CA)

  REGISTRAR, The Miami University Art Museum, (Oxford, OH)

  COLLECTIONS MANAGER/REGISTRAR; CURATOR OF EDUCATION; RECEPTIONIST/ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, Jersey City Museum, (Jersey City, NJ)

  PROGRAM DIRECTOR, New York State Alliance for Arts Education, (Albany, NY)

  PROGRAM OFFICER, GRANTS, New York Foundation for the Arts, (New York City, NY)

  RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, Arts Education Partnership, (Washington, DC)

  COMMUNITY PROGRAMS DIRECTOR; OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR; MANAGING DIRECTOR, The Theater Offensive,(Boston, MA)

  FUNDRAISING, Assistant Dean of External Affairs, Tisch School of the Arts, (New York City, NY)

  GRANTS DIRECTOR, Planning and Development Department, Brooklyn Academy of Music, (New York City, NY)

  ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT; COORDINATOR, DEVELOPMENT RECORDS, Whitney Museum of American Art, (New York, NY)

  MANAGER OF MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT; BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, New York Youth Symphony, (New York, NY)

  MARKETING DIRECTOR, Atlanta Ballet, (Atlanta, GA)

  ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, Socrates Sculpture Park, (Long Island City, NY)

  ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, Arena Stage, (Washington, DC)

  ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, The trAce Online Writing Centre, The Nottingham Trent University, (Nottingham, UK)

  ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT, The State Theatre, (New Brunswick, NJ)

  RECEPTIONIST/OFFICE COORDINATOR, Dia Center for the Arts, (New York City, NY)

  MUSEUM STORE MANAGER, Triton Museum of Art, (Santa Clara, CA)

  VISITOR SERVICES STAFF, Brooklyn Museum of Art (Brooklyn, NY)

  PATRON SERVICES ASSISTANT, Brooklyn Academy of Music, (Brooklyn, NY)

  FULL CHARGE BOOKKEEPER, Artsgenesis, (New York City, NY)

  PRODUCTION INTERNS, MASS MoCA, (North Adams, MA)

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  ARTS WIRE JOB RESOURCES

  A growing list of links to job resources for artists and arts administrators is available on Arts Wire's Web Site at http://www.artswire.org/current/jobres.html

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  ARTS WIRE WEB REPORTS

  ARTS WIRE OPEN HOME

  Arts Wire's website at http://www.artswire.org is a central place to visit the cyberhomes of the diverse artists and art organizations who are Arts Wire members. This week CURRENT invites readers to visit the home page of 3-LEGGED DOG.

  3-LEGGED DOG -- http://www.artswire.org/3legdog/ -- produces new, original works in theater, performance, media and hybrid forms, infused with "a love of work and exploration."

  "Working out of a strong literary tradition, 3-Legged Dog's mission is to explore the new narrative possibilities created by digital technology, to examine the braided realities of language and structure, to foster self-expression and skill in young artists through educational initiatives, and to provide an environment for our artists to create new tools and modes of expression so that they can excel across a range of disciplines," they state.

  In the fall of 2001, 3-Legged Dog will present Kevin Cunningham's Multimedia play and DVD-ROM KAMPUCHEA/LOISAIDA, described in this way on the web site: "The rich, minutely visualized work pulls the viewer through each of several minds and hearts, from the horror of the killing fields of Cambodia through the Thai refugee camps and (via paths as various as the Caribbean dope routes, Parisian Communists cells, and the Taiwanese knock-off trade) into the darker sides of the Lower East Side subcultures of anarchist squatters and the world of sado-masochist culture. From the psych wards of Bellevue to a retreat for alcoholic and pedophile priests near Lowell, Massachusetts. From the elementary school turned mass torture center called Tuol Sleng to the boardroom of a major international Pacific Rim Bank in the financial district of Manhattan...."

  They have also formed an intellectual property corporation called Shape of Time for the purpose of helping members and associates benefit from their technological and artistic innovations. Shape of Time is an affiliate company of the New York University Center for Advanced Technology.

  Kevin Cunningham is Executive Artistic Director, 3-Legged Dog; Susan Szuchmacher is Managing Director

  Visit the site to find out more.

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  ELSEWHERE ON THE NET

  SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS BUILDS NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY

  NEW YORK CITY, NY -- The School of Visual Arts (SVA) has finalized the details of a major alliance with Tsinghua University in Beijing.

  The five-year agreement sets the foundation for a variety of programs between SVA and Tsinghua, including a foreign exchange program for both students and faculty. Starting in the fall of 2001, several Tsinghua students will come to SVA to immerse themselves in American art culture. SVA also plans to invite traditional Chinese painting teachers to teach at SVA.

  SVA executive vice president Anthony P. Rhodes, who worked to forge the alliance, also hopes to establish a new summer continuing education ceramics program with Tsinghua. The bulk of the course will take place at Tsinghua in Beijing, but a trip to Xian where the famous terra cotta warriors are located will be the highlight. This program, which will probably begin in the summer of 2002, will be open to current students, alumni, and the general public.

  The partnership with Tsinghua was a result of SVA's extensive efforts over the years to recruit students from Asia. Spearheading this effort is the International Student Program, (ISP) formerly known as the Asian Student Program, which was launched in 1989. Andrew Chang, co-director of the ISP, was instrumental in founding this program. Initially the program's emphasis was on recruiting Korean art students, but it has since expanded its reach to recruit and host students from Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and other foreign countries. To date about 150 Asian students have attended SVA through the program.

  From its inception in 1947, SVA has pioneered numerous educational techniques including the selection of professionals, working in the arts and art-related fields, as instructors. Today, more than 800 award-winning designers, video and filmmakers, exhibiting artists, photographers, scholars and curators comprise the faculty, offering students a unique study environment.

  The School of Arts at Tsinghua is recognized as a premier national art college in China, recruiting from the top one percent of high school graduates from all over China.

  For complete information, visit http://www.schoolofvisualarts.edu/NewsEvents/index.html

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