Welcome

Symposium:

• ISEA98: Ninth International Symposium on Electronic Art

• Welcome

• John Fallows
• John Brady

Category:

• Introductory & Welcoming Notes

• On behalf of Liverpool Art School, John Moores University, welcome to the ninth International Symposium on Electronic Art — ISEA98.
  The ISEA event was first staged in Utrecht, Holland in 1988 and developed by the Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts, from which the acronym originated, and was originally based in Rotterdam. In September 1996 the Inter-Society head-office was relocated to Montreal. The Inter-Society offices maintain an international network of artists, writers, musicians, curators, critics, theorists and activists engaged in diverse ways with electronic arts and media. The annual ISEA symposium is acclaimed for its ability to bring together the international cutting edge of opinion makers concerned with the cultural use of Information Technology.

  Liverpool John Moores University, Manchester Metropolitan University and the Foundation for Art & Creative Technology have worked together as a partnership to host the International Symposium on Electronic Art for the first time in the UK following host destinations that have included Minneapolis, Sydney, Montreal, Rotterdam and Chicago.
  Liverpool Art School hosts the Revolution Symposium at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts and the Art School’s historic 68 Hope Street building. Together they are a forum and laboratory in which to identify, assert and critique the notions and metaphors of ‘Revolution’.

  Panel sessions offer wide-ranging responses to the symposium title, representing a variety of critical approaches and perspectives. Liverpool has assembled an outstanding global group of artists, academics, inventors and commentators. They will engage and challenge with a programme of presentations integrating papers, dialogues, workshops and performances. We have been overwhelmed by the response and impressed with the range of panels offered, the variety and calibre of papers within them.
  In essence, ISEA98 comprises two components; the symposium programme which will be held over six days, and the exhibitions and events programme, which features a mix of installations, interactive artworks, performances, music and club projects. The conference programme is split into two three day sessions in each city: ISEA98 Revolution in Liverpool and ISEA98 Terror in Manchester.

  The exhibition programme: revolution98 utilises major contemporary art spaces in Liverpool and Manchester. These include the Bluecoat Gallery, Open Eye, The Tea Factory, Tate Gallery Liverpool, Unity Theatre, Cornerhouse, Chinese Arts Centre, Cyberia Internet Cafe Bar, Manchester City Art Galleries and the Museum of Science and Industry.