[Remark: some mistakes regarding TISEA in the original text were corrected]
Introductory Statement
After Utrecht, Groningen, Sydney, Minneapolis, and Helsinki, Montreal has the privilege of hosting the 6th International Symposium on Electronic Art, ISEA95 Montréal.
The choice of Montreal as host to ISEA is the result of the heartfelt, spontaneous desire of a dozen Montreal artists who each decided to attend TISEA 1992, the Sydney Symposium. The strong atendance by Montreal artists to ISEA in Australia, as well as many other similar international events, has positioned Montreal as an important crossroads of research and creation in the field of electronic arts. The some people who attended TISEA are responsible for initiating ISEA95 Montréal. Active collaboration has been continuous for over a year in order to create this dynamic meeting ground and forum of exchange encompassing 26 different sites across Montreal.
ISEA is the annual, interdisciplinary meeting of all individuals who create, theorize, and adhere to the electronic arts. ISEA is the tangible rendez-vous of a dispersed, virtual community of individuals who communicate via modem and networks. ISEA is the electronic arts event held in a different city on a different continent eyery year. ISEA’s scope and influence grows with every edition since it’s inception in 1988. We feel that the current edition, ISEA95 Montréal, will bear witness to the maturity and pertinence of this Symposium.
More than one thousand proposals from forty countries were submitted to ISEA95 Montreal for selection. Each proposal was reviewed by local juries and subsequently commented upon by an international program committee. At the end of the process, four hundred proposals resulted in the final program of 7 keynote conferences, 19 panels, 52 poster sessions, 12 institutional presentations, 10 workshops, 2 exhibitions grouping 100 artists, 7 electro-acoustic music concerts comprising 30 works, ten multi media performances, several special projects and satellite events, an Electronic Cabaret, a New Media Market, and the Cyberport… As a crowning honour, ISEA95 Montreal has been chosen as the preferred site of several international organizations and publications from which to announce their international competitions, award national tributes, and launch new magazines.
Behind the challenge of bringing the event to Montreal lay the desire to stimulate the local arts community, to share its synergy, and to create new links with the international community. The degree of enthusiasm manifested by the international electronic arts community confirms that our efforts to make this edition a special one have not been in vain.
All is ready for the intense voyage of discovery of ISEA95 Montreal to begin…and the week promises to offer more than virtual excitement!
Welcome to Montreal!
- Alain Mongeau, Programme director, ISEA95, CA
- Monique Savoie, Executive director, ISEA95, CA