SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA (May 5, 2006) – The most progressive artists, cultural producers, media theorists, and curators from around the world will be gathering in the cradle of innovative thinking - Silicon Valley - to share and discuss the latest ideas and practices involving new media and contemporary art. This year, San Jose, California has the distinction of hosting the 13th International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA2006) August 7-13, coinciding with the inauguration of ZeroOne San Jose: A Global Festival of Art on the Edge.

ZeroOne San Jose is launching as a milestone festival and is expected to be held biennially. The Symposium and Festival will play host to the unveiling of an 80,000 square foot exhibition for contemporary artworks as well as providing the site for a city-wide installation of 38 interactive projects, 8 shipping containers of curated works from countries along the Pacific Rim. The symposium includes presentations by 70 artists including keynote address by renowned Raqs Media Collective from New Delhi, India.

Joel Slayton and Steve Dietz, Co-Chairs and Directors of ZeroOne San Jose/ISEA2006 collaborated on a new model for Symposium presentations and participation, which will allow the public to join the discussions online both before and during the Symposium. This innovative structure is designed to enable lively, free conversations across disciplines, ideologies, and philosophical frame-works. As many as 3000 attendees from 50 countries are anticipated in San Jose with more participating online from remote locations.

Each week an online forum introduces a new theme + session abstracts. The process is simple and anyone is free to access, read, and comment on them. This orientation is intended as a break from the tradition of reading academic papers and the formalities of panels at standard conferences and symposiums. A pre-symposium publishing model has been adopted to further the goal of reserving the time spent at the symposium for questioning, debate, and provocation. All papers will be published in a combination of print and online media. A special edition of Leonardo that will focus on Pacific Rim components of Symposium and Exhibition, as well as a pre-symposium Pacific Rim New Media Summit themes and outcomes. Additional papers will appear in Intelligent Agent.

Registration for ISEA2006 is on-line at: http://01sj.org
Early Bird discount of $100 is available through June 30

Download PDF