In several articles of previous issues of the Magazine, we covered the production of electronic art by presenting the work of online producers, publishers, and artists on the local scene. From time to time, we would also like to take a look at what people are doing elsewhere, examine situations other than our own in order to gain perspective and to be able to compare varied situations as they are defined in certain countries and regions.

We've chosen England for several reasons. First, because many important organizations exist in the major cities as well as in outlying areas. Furthermore, the support brought to producers, to publishers and to an extensive array of special events by the Arts Council of England and its regional offices presents a situation similar to our own.

 

LONDON

England is one of the few countries, along with the United States, where contemporary art institutions have involved themselves extensively in the digital arts. In London, the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art), after some admirable efforts (such as Curatour guide to Web sites) and a difficult transitional period (for months, their Web site hadn't been updated), has recently created the New Media Centre, thanks to the support of Sun Microsystems, the major computer products company. Benjamin Weil, co-founder of adäweb and one of the most important curators of electronic art, has been appointed to the executive. He has already set up an online exhibitions program, networks , for which he has made a first selection of pioneering works that give a truly historical perspective of art on the Web. The ICA also hosts the Digital Moving Image Festival onedotzero, which held its third edition, April 30 to May 3 1999.

Channel, one of the most important online publishers of electronic art, operates in conjunction with producers throughout the country and abroad. It constitutes a veritable thoroughfare, gathering artists' projects, discussions and Internet resources. Arts organizations, galleries, academic institutions, artists' groups and designers have come together here to create collaborative projects and to realize new ideas within this network. Channel acts jointly with Artec (Arts and Technology Centre) in London, provides production support and resources, and comprises a residency program. Among their most remarkable projects, Inhabiting Metropolis gathers artistic projects concerned with defining networked space; Cached hosts a series of conferences involving major authors and artists; Timeline comprises a selection of Web projects framed in an historical perspective underlining technical developments that have marked network evolution.

Prestigious artistic media organizations, previously involved in the promotion of film and video, have taken the plunge into the digital age. LEA (London Electronic Arts) has merged with the London Film Maker's Co-op to become the The Lux Centre for Film, Video and Digital Arts. This London video and electronic arts production, distribution and exhibition centre produces events for the Serpentine Gallery, The Whitechapel Open, and the ICA, among others. It is also responsible for a biennial of film, video, new media and gallery installations: Pandaemonium, the London Festival of Moving Images.

Backspace, situated in London, is at once a provider of network services, a meeting place for artists, and a producer of high-calibre events. In 1997, this organization presented a series of conferences on networked art, Anti with E, that brought together several of the most important artists: Heath Bunting, Vuk Cosic, Jodi, Alexei Shulgin, Olia Lialina, Steve Kurtz, among others. It also organized the launch of I/O/D 4: The Web Stalker in 1997 (see the review in this edition of the Magazine). On its Web site, Backspace harbors the Favespace section, where visitors can suggest and comment on interesting sites.

 

LIVERPOOL

Based in Liverpool, FACT (The Foundation for Art & Creative Technology) represents one of the most important producers of electronic arts in England. It supports the production of many works based on various electronic media and promotes these works in major institutions. Last year, it also set up IMAGINARIA, the Cap Gemini Digital Art Prize, which awards prizes to the best artistic productions in Great Britain. FACT also organized the 9th edition of the International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA98 , held in Liverpool and Manchester in the fall of 1998. An excellent overview of the event may also be found on the ISEA (Montréal).

 

HULL

Located in Hull, Yorkshire, Hull Time Based Arts is one of the oldest production centres in the field of inter/multi-disciplinary works, involving performance, video, sound and music, installations and new media. It supplies technical resources to artists, runs an exhibitions program, and publishes online projects. The Root festival, which it organizes, had its 9th edition in October 1998. The organization has also developed an artist residency program, EMARE99 (European Media Art Residency Exchange), in collaboration with other European partners.

 

SHEFFIELD

In the same region, in Sheffield, the biennial of media arts, Lovebytes, commissions digital art works specifically for the event. The organization is equipped with multimedia facilities for the development and production of arts projects, while its new multimedia laboratory will give it the opportunity to offer workshops and residencies.

 

BRIGHTON

Brighton is known for the many multimedia companies established in the city, and for providing a wide array of services in the field. Lighthouse, an important information centre in the Brighton Media Centre, also offers bursaries that may take to form of access to equipment. Within the same complex and defining itself as a museum without walls,BN1 orchestrates the production of public digital works, all having technological components in common. It acts in partnership with other organizations, including Lighthouse.

 

NOTTINGHAM

Nottingham, in the East Midlands, is also considered a multimedia centre. Several arts-related activities are assembled in the Broadway Media Centre, while active ingredient promotes and publishes works using the Internet and new technologies by providing technical support to groups and to artists. It sets up workshops and presents online works.

 

BRISTOL

DA2, an agency specialized in the promotion of digital art, is developing an exhibition program for computer based art works. Located in Bristol, it mainly supports artists of South East England and collaborates with many exhibition centres in the region, notably with the Watershed Media Centre, also in Bristol.

 

PLYMOUTH

CAiiA+STAR is a research platform that integrates two centres of doctoral research: CAiiA, the Centre for Advanced Inquiry in the Interactive Arts, at the University of Wales College, Newport and STAR, the Centre for Science, Technology and Art Research, in the School of Computing, University of Plymouth. Together CAiiA+STAR provide a powerful base for research in the new field of practice, theory and application which is emerging from the creative convergence of art, science, technology and consciousness.

In the past they have organized several conferences,projects and a series of important symposiums such as Consciousness Reframed. The CAiiA+STAR is presently implicated in a large scale manifestation taking place in Brazil from August 25 to 29, 1999: Invenção - thinking the next millennium. The event is presented by the ITAU Cultural Institute in collaboration with ISEA, CAiiA-STAR and LEONARDO.

 

OXFORD

The Laboratory, the research department of the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford, has no physical operational centre, but present many interesting online projects (among others, those of David Bickerstaff and Jake Tilson ) and supports the production of new digital works. It works in concert with many partners to produce conferences and exhibitions.

 

LUTON

Another academic institution has interested itself in electronic arts in the recent inauguration of Creativity and Consumption. Organized by the University of Luton, March 26 to April 12 1999, the event consisted of a series of conferences, workshops and media arts projects.

 

LANCASTER

First a performance company, Furnace gave birth to MyHouse & YourHouse, in Lancaster, an environment set up for artists, The Utopian Arts Space. This unique project developed within a community of artists who, having lost their space, pursued their activities by means of new technologies on the World Wide Web. Relocated on the Internet, Furnace has given rise to fascinating online projects (including Encounter, discussed in this edition).

 

This quick overview cannot give an exhaustive and complete picture of the production and dissemination of electronic art in England. It aims to show the vitality that characterizes this field of activity in the country by highlighting the diverse forms of involvement taken by the many centres, organizations and institutions.

Sylvie Parent