Fourth lnternational Symposium on Electronic Art: The Art Factor

By way of introducing these papers from the Fourth International Symposium on Electronic Art, I would like to say a few words about the term “electronic art” and about the theme of the Minneapolis symposium, ”The Art Factor.” In planning the call for participation, our program committee was forced to ask very specifically, “How do we define ‘electronic art’?” In seeking an answer, the committee saw a need to identify relationships between emerging electronic technologies and arts traditions. Some felt that technological achievement placed in an arts context as “art” should be subjected to critical assessment as “art,” perhaps rather than spending time discussing the technology. A symposium focused on “the art factor” could open doors toward the development of a critical basis for distinguishing between “art” and the technologies employed for creating that art.