SPEAKERS

BAL, Alex
BARDINI, Thierry
CHATONSKY, Grégory
CONESA, Jean-Claude
COTE, Mario
CZEGLEDY, Nina
DANIELS, Steve
DUBOIS, Jean
ELDER, R. Bruce
EPOQUE, Martine
FISCHER, Hervé
FLEISCHER, Alain
GARDNER, Paula
JOOSSE, Angela
LaBELLE, Guillaume
LANGILL, Caroline
MATHIEU, Marie-Christine
NOLAN, Jason
OUELLET, Pierre
PALMIERI, Christine
PAPON, Frédéric
POISSANT, Louise
POULIN, Denis
PRUSKA-OLDENHOF, Izabella
RODIONOFF, Anolga
SLOPEK, Edward
SNYDER, Don
TREMBLAY, Pierre
VAN ALSTYNE, Greg

Alexandra Bal
Ryerson University, School of Image Arts

Bal is an associate researcher at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris where her research deals with the critical analysis of the socio-economy of virtual education, the socio-economy of digital arts and use of agent technology in education. Her current research is investigating the societal and economic impact pervasive computing will have on education, arts and gaming.

SECOND LIFE AS HOME TO EVOLVING TECHNOLOGICAL ORGANISMS?
Second life is rapidly growing in popularity. No longer just a hub of economic activities and social networking, this Massively multiplayer online game (mmog) is becoming a forum for artistic activities. At this stage, both traditional image based media makers and experimental new media artists,based on virtual and physical computing aesthetics,  are developing strategies to utilise this space. The use of code as art is becoming key to an emerging art practice within second life. These experiments differ from traditional digital media in that the behaviors of machines, in the form of software agents and/or physical robots,  and of humans are used to create unscripted experiences. In the long term, will there emerge a new aesthetic genre based on the coexistence of human and machine networks and the interplay of their experiences. How will this cohabitation change our relationship to technology?  Will a life ideology which strives to develop technological organisms find a home in these hybrid spaces?