[Leonardo/ISAST Network] Leonardo Book Series Roundtable with Kac, Popper, Malina, Bureaud

[Leonardo/ISAST]

In conjunction with the launch of the new MIT Press/Leonardo Book Series 
title /Signs of Life: Bio Art and Beyond/, edited by Eduardo Kac and 
/From Technological Art to Virtual Art/ by Frank Popper (MIT 
Press/Leonardo Book Series), Leonardo/Olats and the Paris Art School 
have organized a round table:

"The Art-Science-Technology Relations as seen through the Leonardo Book 
Series at MIT Press"
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
6 -- 8 pm
Ensba -- Paris Art School
14 rue Bonaparte -- 75006 Paris
Conference Room -- 1st Floor

Participants include: Roger Malina, Chair of Leonardo/ISAST and 
Leonardo/Olats; Frank Popper, author of /From Technological to Virtual 
Art/; Eduardo Kac, editor of /Signs of Life: Bio Art and Beyond/; and 
moderator Annick Bureaud.

This round table will question the relationship of art, science and 
technology as seen through the Leonardo Book Series at MIT Press. 
Eduardo Kac and Frank Popper will present their books and points of view 
on the role and issues of publishing for new art forms. When new art 
forms emerge what role do artists play with their theoretical books in 
creating a public space for discussion? What are the connections between 
artworks and books in the body of work of an artist? What discourses and 
approaches on technoscientific art are emerging from the Leonardo Book 
Series? What are the aesthetic, theoretical and historical issues within 
this collection and more specifically within the two books that will be 
presented and discussed?

* * * * *

In 1993, alongside its journals, Leonardo/ISAST launched a book series 
at MIT Press. The Leonardo Book Series publishes texts by artists, 
scientists, researchers and scholars that present innovative discourse 
on the convergence of art, science and technology. Envisioned as a 
catalyst for enterprise, research and creative and scholarly 
experimentation, the series enables diverse intellectual communities to 
explore common grounds of expertise. The Leonardo Book Series, under the 
direction of Editor-in-Chief Sean Cubitt, provides for the 
contextualization of contemporary practice, ideas and frameworks 
represented by those working at the intersection of art, science and 
technology. The Leonardo Book Series Advisory Board, appointed by Cubitt 
in June 2006, includes Annick Bureaud, Laura Marks, Anna Munster, 
Michael Punt, Sundar Sarukkai, Joel Slayton and Eugene Thacker.

Nearly fifteen years later, with 28 titles published, covering a varied 
field, the Leonardo Book Series proposes a basis for reflection, both 
retrospective and prospective, about the art-science-technology 
relations to put into perspective the role of publishing in this domain.

The Paris Art School library, in collaboration with the bookstore 
Flammarion Centre, of the Centre Georges Pompidou, will have Leonardo 
Book series titles on hand at the event.

More about the series, and to purchase books online, visit:
http://www.leonardo.info/isast/leobooks.html

* * * * *
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Roger Malina
Chair, Leonardo/ISAST and Leonardo/Olats

Roger F. Malina is an astronomer and editor. He is a CNRS researcher at 
the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique in Marseille, France and former director 
of the EUVE NASA Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. 
He is Chair of Leonardo/ISAST, San Francisco and the Association 
Leonardo/Olats in Paris. He writes on art and science and has a specific 
interest for the cultural impact of space activities.


Frank Popper
Author of /From Technological to Virtual Art/ (January 2007)

In his book /From Technological to Virtual Art/, Frank Popper traces the 
development of immersive, interactive new media art from its historical 
antecedents through today's digital, multimedia, and networked art. 
Popper shows that contemporary virtual art is a further refinement of 
the technological art of the late twentieth century and also a departure 
from it. What is new about this new media art, he argues, is its 
humanization of technology, its emphasis on interactivity, its 
philosophical investigation of the real and the virtual, and its 
multi-sensory nature. After describing artistic forerunners of virtual 
art from 1918 to 1983 -- including art that used light, movement, and 
electronics -- Popper looks at contemporary new media forms and artists. 
He surveys works that are digital-based but materialized, multimedia 
off-line works, interactive digital installations, and multimedia 
on-line works (net art) by many artists, among them John Maeda, Jenny 
Holzer, Brenda Laurel, Agnes Hegedus, Stelarc, and Igor Stromajer.

The Author:
Frank Popper is Professor Emeritus of Aesthetics and the Science of Art 
at the University of Paris VIII. He is the author of Origins and 
Development of Kinetic Art; Art, Action, and Participation; Art of the 
Electronic Age and other influential works on art and technology.


Eduardo Kac
Editor of /Signs of Life: Bio Art and Beyond/ (June 2007)

Bio-art is a new art form that has emerged from the cultural impact and 
increasing accessibility of contemporary biotechnology. /Signs of Life/ 
is the first book to focus exclusively on art that uses biotechnology as 
its medium, defining and discussing the theoretical and historical 
implications of bio-art and offering examples of work by prominent 
artists. The contributors to /Signs of Life/ articulate the critical 
theory of bio-art and document its fundamental works. The writers--who 
include such prominent scholars as Barbara Stafford, Eugene Thacker, and 
Dorothy Nelkin--consider the culture and aesthetics of biotechnology, 
the ethical and philosophical aspects of bio-art, and biology in art 
history. The section devoted to artworks and artists includes George 
Gessert's "Why I Breed Plants", Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr's "Semi-Living 
Art", Marc Quinn's "Genomic Portrait", and Heather Ackroyd and Dan 
Harvey's "Chlorophyll".

The author:
Eduardo Kac is an internationally renowned artist who has received 
critical acclaim for net and bio works including Genesis, GFP Bunny, and 
Move 36. His work has been widely exhibited and is in the permanent 
collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of 
Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, among others.

Visit the Leonardo Book Series on-line for more information about all 
titles in the series, to purchase titles, or how to submit a proposal: 
http://www.leonardo.info/isast/leobooks.html

Leonardo/ISAST is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Donations are 
tax-deductible in the U.S. To learn more about Leonardo/ISAST's 
projects, programs and activities, visit http://leonardo.info

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