Introductory Statement

ISEA International is pleased to present the 21st International Symposium on Electronic Art –ISEA2015– in Vancouver this year. Since 1988 ISEA has been situated at the global frontier of digital media, creating an open discourse around electronic art, science, interdisciplinarity and culture. In 1989 Tim Berners Lee sat down to begin the www, http and html protocols for a barely understood internet. From speculations on the nature of hypertext and notions of supreme multimedia at early ISEA symposia, through to hybridized internet spaces in the mid 2000’s, academics and artists – in many situations one and the same – have simultaneously developed and explored the nature of interactivity. Our relationship to technology has
been scrutinized and extended through creativity and academic debate. Such is the work presented at symposia and art events held annually, in cities from Utrecht to Dubai. In an era where the term technology has received the prefxes of eco, nano and bio, the transitioned state of contemporary culture under the impact of electronic media made it possible to hear casually in the halls of ISEA2013 Sydney that culture had become electronic. It is in this hybrid diversity of nomadic journeying, typical of contemporary culture, that ISEA is so well located. Twenty years after Montreal hosted the sixth ISEA, the event has returned to Canada –to be hosted by Simon Fraser University in Vancouver– for the foremost iteration of what has become electronic heritage.

ISEA International foundation Board:

• Peter Anders, USA, Chair
• Wim van der Plas, Netherlands, Treasurer
• Bonnie Mitchell, USA, Secretary
• Paul Catanese, USA
• Ian Clothier, New Zealand