The University of Colorado, Boulder, is hosting an art gallery full of electronic works, and the artists will convene in real time at the University of Colorado, UMC June 21. We will bring the discussions started there into the Internet.

Our concerns include:

Technology:

• Are our technologies are evolving us into something that's no longer quite human--at least not in the conventional way we have come to think of humanity? What are the implications for the humanities in the age of the posthuman?
• Science and technology are making rapid-fire "breakthroughs" almost daily in a range of technologies from surveillance to genetics. As technology allows for the idea of "presence" minus the physical (witness telecommunications, the Inet) what is the impact on issues of identity, race, gender, etc?
• Has the demilitarization of information technology been successfully re-mediated through public access/humanization through the creative arts? How might we expect this re-mediation to be manifested in other high technologies ( i.e. biotechnology) and future technology hybrids (artificial lifeforms/artificial ecosystems/intelligent agents)?
• What is the current status of aesthetics at the convergence of art, science and technology? What is the impact on human/cultural identity, consciousness, community and learning?

The role of the artist on the web:

• Do new creation tools (like Photoshop, for instance) bridge the gap between the artist (a person with a special talent) and the audience (people with no special artistic ability) by making everybody an artist, or do the tools reinforce the distinction by making clear that talent isn't a function of tools?
• What is the role of the artist-as-researcher in the investigation and innovation of new technologically-driven visualization methods? What is the influence of aesthetics as a developmental challenge to the technical envelope? and What is the next evolution of this artist-researcher role in a post Xerox-PARC world?
• The motivation of nearly all technology efforts is financial; this is in direct contrast to the motivation of most artistic endeavors. How do these motivations shape the works?
• Interacting--how can electronic art invite the viewer to take a more active role? What are the possible roles for viewers
• Future works and collaboration--how can we develop collaborative models of production?

Archiving:

• How do we preserve the technology and the artwork we are creating when systems are obsolete every 6 months? Who will maintain the hardware/software/electricity needed to show these works?