An occasional newsletter of the Computers and Sculpture Forum.

This issue prepared by Tim Duffield (Assisted by Derrick Woodham and Keith Brown) __________________________________________________________________________________________

Yet another issue! The last one started the process of planning our presence at

Trying to get sculptors to organize themselves into a cohesive band capable of mounting a day of conference sessions is rather like

As you know , these are the dates of the next biannual International Sculpture Conference. It is to be held in Chicago. Our Computers and Sculpture Forum will have the use of one of the largest conference spaces (it will seat 650 people) for the whole of Saturday, May 23.

The plans so far (II).....

We thought that the day should take the form of sequences of poster sessions, interspersed by panel discussions and panoramic overviews of our terrain. The elements would be grouped by theme:

To repeat what I stated in the last issue: "Metaphorically, we hope to walk an attendee through the process of making a sculpture with the aid of the computer. After the first steps of assembling information and developing ideas we will explore computer assisted processes of manufacture. >From thence we will see how the computer has enriched and, perhaps, changed our understanding of our art form. And, finally, we will look at the possibilities for the future that have opened up -- new forms of three-dimensional expression that may not have tangible substance."

As we receive proposals and your suggestions, the themes take form. For each of the sub-headings below, we have a number of submissions, and these are likely to be the way the presentations and panels will be grouped:

Practical:

Digitizing and rapid prototyping methods.

The generation of sculptural form by mathematics.

Design & Engineering: ways in which the computer can enrich the design process.

Fabrication: computer-assisted and computer-controlled manufacture.

The incorporation of a computer within the sculpture itself: robotics, sensing etc.

Theoretical:

New insights into the art of sculpture afforded by the computer. New ways to teach the fundamentals of sculpture.

Virtual:

The creation of virtual exhibition spaces on the Internet and the interactivity possible in cyberspace.

Holography and 3D projection systems.

If there is anything we have missed, it's because no one has proposed something to fill the gap. If you see a gap, fill it. Of course, any one of these presentations will touch on aspects of others. Our work does not fit into tidy boxes. Given that, some of us are utterly uncategorizable - they don't fit into UNtidy boxes! For these souls we will find room, and a place in our hearts.

In addition to these themes there will be an international panel comprising Martin Sperka of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, English sculptor Keith Brown and others whose inclusion has yet to be confirmed.

A panel devoted to the web, and, particularly, to the ISC website, will also be held, but as part of the main conference proceedings.

Here is a repeat of the request for proposals and ideas:

Please contact me if you have any ideas for discussions and demonstrations. If you would like to show your work in a poster session, submit your name to me. At the end of this newsletter, there is a form for you to fill out with all the details we need at this point. You may submit the information by e-mail, but if you do, you must include the information requested on the form to ease the sorting and organization - and my workload. As time goes on, we will ask you for more information and examples of work as appropriate; therefore, do not send slides, etc. at this point. If your work is visible on the web, note the URLs and I will try to visit them all.

If you are not asked to present your work or take part in panels or discussions, you will still have the opportunity to show your work. We anticipate a larger submission than we have received previously and we will probably be forced to be very selective in our programming. Our decisions may not always be based purely on the quality of the work, but on the need for a rounded and balanced program. We will put together slide and video presentations of the work that is not presented by you personally. The presentations will relate to the themes or sub-themes and be tied in with the discussion of the moment.

For those who cannot come to Chicago:
We encourage you to send slides and videotape of your work and the URL of your website. Again, we do not want these now. BUT, please fill out the form and send it in, noting that you will not be present, but that you have work you would like to show. Also note where you think it will fit in the Great Scheme outlined above. 

Support

At the end of this newsletter, I repeat the piece for new members. It contains information for everyone, so please read it again. If you enjoy these newsletters or find them useful, please support them. Particularly if you participate in the events, such as the Chicago Conference, you should understand that there are costs involved in organizing. I am happy to give my time, the costs aren't huge, but I would appreciate your help.

We are hoping that we can arrange some

DAAP, the Active Worlds Zone of the College of DAAP (Design, Art, Architecture and Planning) at the University of Cincinnati, will exhibit the models of interested sculptors during the International Sculpture Conference. The exhibition will be on view at the conference, and anywhere in the world over the Internet on a Pentium cpu computer operating Windows95 or NT, with the Active Worlds Browser installed. Interested sculptors are invited to explore DAAP, which is currently on line in Active Worlds. The free browser can be downloaded from www.activeworlds.com.  

VRML and RWX models can be installed directly, and 3DS, DXF, and COB (TrueSpace) models can be converted. Regrettably, only models in these formats can be used, and Active Worlds does not operate in any operating system other than Windows 95 or NT.  

For further information, please contact Derrick Woodham at the University of Cincinnati,

ML# 210016, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-210016. Phone 513 556 0280.

Email to derrick.woodham@uc.edu

Note: I had difficulty downloading the Active Worlds browser directly from their link on their website. I solved the problem by going to http://aw.mpl.net/downloads/, which was a list of files including the browser: awbfull.exe. Derrick's website is at http://www.uc.edu/~woodhad/index.html, the DAAP site at http://www.daap.uc.edu/soa/dwoodham/daap.htm

Please send files of your sculpture to Derrick for inclusion. Even if you work on the Mac, you should be able to arrange translation into one of these formats, and even if you cannot visit an Active Worlds zone on your own computer, you will be able to see your work displayed in Chicago.

Please send your work so that you still have a presence at the conference. We are trying to arrange a particular time for meeting and connecting with each other from around the world. I hope that all of our members in England and France and Mexico and Australia and Japan (not to mention those of you at a wedding in New Mexico) will participate!

Is the date Derrick gives as the final day for him to receive your files and ready them for inclusion in the site.

"Maybe you heard on the news, a huge part of Quebec is in the blackout due to heavy freezing rains. I had no electricity for 8 days, and I still don't know when I will have it again (heard about 5 more days in the cold). Thanks to my wood stove and candles. Thanks especially to my cousin who has a power resource on his farm, where I carried my computer and modem to answer to you before Jan. 15." 

I include it just so that those of you who have not bothered yet feel suitably ashamed! (Thanks, Primeau, I enjoyed that!)

And before we leave Chicago, a mention of Pierwalk. For a tour of sculpture that has been placed in Chicago, visit http://www.pierwalk.com/

The Platform on the Internet...............

The Platform has now been posted on the ISC website at www.sculpture.org and at the Intersculpt site in Paris www.stratocom.fr/intersculpt/. At the moment, the transposition into HTML is very simple and the text is all in one long page. I hope to do it properly eventually and have it as a series of linked pages.

I do advise a visit to Christian Lavigne's Intersculpt site, You may be surprised to find pictures of your sculpture on display. I found a photo of myself, grinning like a Cheshire Cat, at my computer.

And while on the subject of CHRISTIAN LAVIGNE................

He has just returned to Paris from a long visit to Africa. He sends the following note:

Mes très chers amis,

I have just come back from West Africa (Senegal and Mali). It was a tiring trip, but with good moments (especially with a jolie fille malienne!).

On Friday, January 9, I presented a 2-hour lecture in the Centre Culturel Français de Dakar about computer sculpture, Ars Mathematica and The CSF. I showed slides, videos, and computer pictures from artists web sites. We had, too, an Internet link. About 70 people were present despite the Ramadan period (the fast month in Muslim religion). The audience was very surprised and excited by our artworks. Perhaps INTERSCULPT'99 will have a link to Africa! As far as I know, the most efficient artist in computer art is my friend Cheick Sow, infographist of Malinet provider in Bamako (http://www.malinet.ml/caksow/). I will help him to know more about 3D software for creating sculptures. It will be ready soon!

Very few architects use Autocad. I haven't heard about any computer sculptor in French speaking African countries. In other part, I'm waiting for documents about "traditional" sculptors I may present in Chicago.

A JOB OFFER.......................

This is a first for The Platform! We would be happy to run announcements like this for any of you.

Academy of Art College, San Francisco

is seeking professional sculptors comfortable both in traditional sculpture techniques and with a command of the computer as a tool for the generation of sculpture. For more information please contact the Director of Sculpture, Lou Quaintance at 415 274 8652

DAVID SMALLEY

of Connecticut College held a retrospective of his work at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Connecticut last September. He had the wonderful opportunity to display the achievement of a long career. He is one of the founders of the Symposium on Arts and Technology. It is just about the best of all the similar events in the arts in this country.

You may have heard that things have changed a bit at Connecticut College and that the Symposium was in jeopardy. David sent this

Update on the Center for Arts and Technology:

The Task Force appointed by the President was extremely favorable about the Center and about the need to support ALL of its activities until such time as sufficient endowment is found. And a beginning has been made with an endowment that will fund the salary of the director and some research funds. So, things are looking lots brighter than they did last year.

The new Director is Bridget Baird, Ph.D. who many of you know from previous symposia. Bridget's primary area of activity is in VR research. Andrea Wollensak will accept a position as Associate Director for Events, and much of the planning for the future symposia will be her responsibility. I am continuing my association by assuming (temporarily) responsibility for the Student Certificate Program, Internships, and Student/Faculty research projects.

The future of the Center seems assured!

ISEA '98 - revolution & terror

isea98 is the ninth International Symposium on Electronic Art. It is the latest in a long history of distinguished isea symposia as important world events: Chicago 97; Rotterdam 96; Montreal 95; Helsinki 94; Minneapolis 93; Sydney 92; Groningen 90; and Utrecht in 1988. It is the largest UK electronic arts event and academic conference to date. All major galleries across the North West of England are hosting the exhibition and events program and two leading universities, collaborating with their cities, are presenting the international conference, symposium, and electronic summit. It is a unique collaboration between the Department of Fine Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University, Liverpool John Moores University, and the Foundation for Art & Creative Technology (FACT).

isea98 echoes the aims of the Inter-Society for Electronic Arts: to systematically investigate the problems and potentials of electronic art in relation to the sciences and to further interdisciplinary, inter-individual, and inter-organisational cooperation.

isea98 is a three-part event with the three collaborating partner institutions each taking responsibility for the delivery of particular aspects:

isea98revolution (Liverpool 2-4, September 1998)

Being the first part of the symposium and related projects.

Developed by Liverpool John Moores University.

isea98terror (Manchester, 5-7 September 1998)

Being the second part and Electronic Summit of the symposium and related projects

Developed by the Department of Fine Arts, Manchester Metropolitan University.

Revolution98 (Liverpool & Manchester, 2 September onwards)

Being the official isea98 curated exhibition and events program

Developed by FACT (Foundation for Art & Creative Technology, Liverpool)

isea98 is for artists, scientists, technologists, curators, engineers, writers, students, teachers, and for informed and interested publics. It has been consciously developed to include and be meaningful to diverse cultural and ethnic groups, addressing global issues relating to access to usable new technology.

Terror-forming: the Manchester Context

isea98terror is the culmination of a year of electronic anniversary celebrations in Manchester, a critical "grand finale" of the city's Digital Summer of academic, artistic, and public events. Our reasons for celebrating in 1998 lie in our history. The Department of Fine Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University is celebrating its one hundredth and sixtieth year and another significant birthday coincides. Manchester is well known for its soccer, contemporary music scene, and for being the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Less well known, but as equally important, Manchester was also the birthplace of a second technological revolution.

Fifty years ago, in June 1948, a universal machine was constructed here which has fundamentally altered our global ways of life and given a new context, subject, tool, and medium to practicing artists and scientists. The world's first successfully operating stored-program computer switched on a world technological revolution.

For information about submission deadlines, visit their website at www.isea98.org. Keith Brown, who you will meet in Chicago, is one of the organizers of the Manchester portion. Rob Fisher has submitted a proposal for a session that presents the work of members of the Computers and Sculpture forum.

UK Forum

Keith Brown has formed FAST-UK - Fine Art Sculptors and Technology in the UK. It is a counterpart to our organization here. He has started to gather artists together, and they have stated their aims and objectives:

1) To provide a forum within which sculptors using computers as part of their practice can learn about each other's activity and share common interests.

2) To advise sculptors about "state of the art" hardware and software options.

3) To raise funds to encourage and promote the use of computers amongst sculptors in the UK.

4) To seek opportunities for the exhibition of sculptural work which has in some way involved the use of computers as part of its conception or execution.

5) To interact and communicate with similar organizations in other countries throughout the world.

If anyone with links to England is interested in finding out more, please contact Keith at

KEITH.BROWN@mcr1.poptel.org.uk (home ) or j.k.brown@mmu.ac.uk (work). Now that The Platform is posted on the 'net there is a possibility that you are reading this in England. Get in touch!

WEBSITE ADDRESSES Please send me your website address. I would like to publish a list of addresses in the future. IF YOU ARE SUBMITTING A CONFERENCE PROPOSAL, YOU MUST INCLUDE YOUR WEBSITE ADDRESS (if you have one).

CONTACTS:

Tim Duffield, 1551 Johnny's Way, West Chester, Pa 19382 (610) 430-8557

timd@netaxs.com

Rob Fisher, 228 North Allegheny St, Bellefonte, Pa 16823 (814) 355-1458

Glenunion@aol.com

Bruce Beasley, 322 Lewis Street, Oakland, Ca 94607 (510) 836-1414

Beasley@well.com

David Smalley, 190 Old Colchester Rd, Quaker Hill, Ct 06375 (203) 444-1150

Dasma@conncoll.edu

Robert Smith, c/o Sculpture Center, 167 E69th St, NY, NY10021 (212) 737-9870

Sculpt3d@interport.com

Name ______________________________________________________________________

Address ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

Telephone _________________ Fax _________________ E-mail __________________

Website _________________________________________

(Your own, or wherever your work is open to view)

Proposal:

(Suggestions for discussion and demonstration and/or proposal for your own poster session. For the latter, give a brief description of your work and your sense of where it might fit in our preliminary outline)

Preliminary equipment needs________________________________________________________

Can you help? In Chicago? _____________________Before Chicago?_____________________

Particularly for newcomers to the Computers and Sculpture Forum.......

We have quite a few new members who may find their questions (if not their prayers) answered by the following paragraphs. I would also like you all, however long you have been part of this, and particularly those who anticipate being in Chicago, to ponder on the fact that planning for the conference will involve costs for printing, mailing, telephones etc. I would appreciate your help.

The Computers and Sculpture Forum is a loose-knit group of sculptors who use the computer in various stages of their work. There is no doctrinal or formal requirement for membership. There is no agenda other than the maintenance of a way to keep in touch and to participate together in events that promote the sharing of our excitement in our work. We are all, I think, members of the International Sculpture Center. We have played a prominent part in the biannual conferences that the ISC convenes. We also take part, in an informal way, in other conferences and symposia, such as those staged by the International Association of Electronic Arts and the Small Computers in the Arts Network. In conjunction with colleagues in Europe who formed Ars Mathematica, we have also begun to stage our own events -- Intersculpt'95 and '97. We intend to continue these activities.

Please understand that The Platform is only an OCCASIONAL newsletter. It may be silent for five months and then surprise everyone with a flurry of three issues in 6 weeks. The point is that it appears only when there is something to say -- which usually means in preparation for events such as the Sculpture Conference. The newsletter is the vehicle for planning the events and informing the membership. Unfortunately, it all costs money. The donations of our members and the personal expenditure of those of us who do the organizing support the production and mailing of The Platform and the organization of events such as conference sessions and exhibitions like Intersculpt '97. We don't have annual dues -- not least because I can't guarantee to turn out a newsletter regularly -- what we have is a system whereby people give anything between $10 and $35 when they feel they haven't helped for quite a while. This has worked quite well. By and large, most of the expenses (at least of putting out the newsletter) have been met.

If you have not already done so, send me your full address, telephone and fax numbers and your e-mail address and website URL. Send to Tim Duffield, 1551, Johnny's Way, West Chester, Pa 19382 OR: e-mail the information to me at timd@netaxs.com

Name __________________________________________________

Address __________________________________________________

. __________________________________________________

Telephone __________________________________________________

Fax __________________________________________________

E-mail __________________________________________________

Website __________________________________________________

I have enclosed a donation of $__________________________________