We are in the middle of a process of complex cultural transformation, but to what extent is this matched by the transformation in the way we see ourselves? This book covers a wide-ranging discussion on the interaction between Art, Science and Technology, and goes on to challenge assumptions about 'reality'. Loosely themed around four key elements of Mind, Body, Art and Values, the editor leads the investigation through the familiar territories of interactive media and artificial life, combining them with new and ancient ideas about creativity and personal identity.The contributing authors number over sixty highly respected practitioners and theorists in art and science, bringing to the subject a stimulating diversity of approach and a rich background of knowledge. Art has long been preoccupied with questions involving the mind and consciousness. But it is fast finding that new technology, creatively applied, brings new possibilities to bear. This volume provides a strong foundation for the debates that are sure to follow in this field.
Recipient of the Ars Electronica Golden Nica Award for Visionary Pioneers of Media Art 2014, Roy Ascott has shown at the Shanghai Biennale, Venice Biennale, Biennale do Mercosul Brazil, European Media Festival, Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, and more. His seminal projects include La Plissure du Texte at Electra, Paris 1984, (Second Life versions in 2010, 2012), and Aspects of Gaia Ars Electronica, 1989. His retrospective The Syncretic Sense was shown at Plymouth Arts Centre, 2009; at the Incheon International Digital Art Festival, Korea, 2010, and at SPACE, Hackney, London, 2011. Roy Ascott: Syncretic Cybernetics was part of the Shanghai Biennale 2012. Roy Ascott: The Analogues, Plug-In ICA Winnipeg in 2013. His work is in the Tate permanent collection.
He is president of the Planetary Collegium (World Universities Forum Award for Best Practice in Higher Education 2011), and the DeTao Master of Technoetic Arts at the Beijing DeTao Masters Academy in Shanghai; and honorary professor of Aalborg University, Copenhagen, and University of West London.
In 1960s London, he established the radical Groundcourse at Ealing and then Ipswich, and taught at the Slade, Saint Martins and the Central Schools of Art. In the 1970s he was president of Ontario College of Art, Toronto, and later vice-president of San Francisco Art Institute. He was professor of communications theory at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna, in the 1980s, and professor of interactive arts at the University of Wales in the 1990s. He is a graduate of King's College, University of Durham. He is now a Doctor Honoris Causa of Ionian University, Corfu, Greece and a Professor Emeritus at University of Plymouth.
Roy lectures and publishes throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. Founding editor of Technoetic Arts (Intellect), and honorary editor of Leonard (MIT Press). His books include: The Future is Now: Art, Technology, and Consciousness, Gold Wall Press, Beijing, 2012; Telematic Embrace: Visionary Theories of Art Technology and Consciousness, University of California Press, 2003; Technoetic Arts, Yonsei University Press, 2002; and テレマティック:新しい美学の構築に向かって。(Art & Telematics: Toward the Construction of New Aesthetics), NTT, Tokyo, 1998.
Roy advises new media centres, festivals and juries throughout Europe, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Korea, the USA, CEC and UNESCO.
