Digital Arts and New Media Festival Set for May

The Digital Arts and New Media (DANM) Festival, which will be held May 4 –7, will serve as a forum for the investigation of the boundaries and possibilities of digital art and new media.

Topics of investigation include:

• How have the roles of the artist and audience evolved in these new forms of art?
• How do the established disciplines such as the arts, computer sciences and engineering, and social sciences contribute to this rapidly evolving field?
• How do history, theory and criticism respond to the wide variety of new media practices?

The festival will explore these issues through exhibitions at The Museum of Art & History @ The McPherson Center and the Porter Sesnon Gallery, through film screenings in collaboration with the Santa Cruz Film Festival, symposia, music performances and satellite events that will take place throughout April, May and June 2006. (Click on the highlighted links for more information and detailed schedules.) The Festival will present the work of artists such as Jim Campbell, Paul DeMarinis and Camille Utterback, and from members of the DANM MFA Program, as well as panels of expert speakers.

The DANM MFA Program serves as a center for innovation and exploration of technologies in the arts. Faculty and students are drawn from a variety of established disciplines such as the arts, computer engineering and social sciences. Digital arts practice is the focus, but history, theory and criticism are integrated throughout the program's research and teaching. The goal is to enlarge the collective imagination through an investigation of the boundaries and possibilities of digital art and new media. The program creates opportunities for artists and scientists alike to discover and document new knowledge and expertise at an advanced academic level.