Stretcher

In this edition of Stretcher, a cluster of articles considers the ISEA/Zero One festival of electronic art that took place in San Jose, California in August, 2006. This year’s International Society of Electronic Artists (ISEA) meeting, which coincided and collaborated with the San Jose’s new biennial festival, Zero One, was structured by the organizers to surround a LOT of art with considerable discourse.

Intensive discussions at three pre-ISEA summit gatherings, ISEA proper, and an independent evening assessing ISEA at the San Francisco Art Institute injected vigorous analysis into the deliriously full schedule of exhibitions and events. The calendar, artists, and works can still be explored online at the festival Web site.

The festival, of course, was the momentary precipitation of an international community that can be engaged in various ways online all the time. Each Stretcher editor contributed picks to our own, personal “don’t miss” list.

CNN PlusPlus got votes from two Stretcher crew members.

A pigeon from Beatriz da Costa’s Pigeon Blog was featured in event graphics; the feathered festival muse can be seen in full blogging regalia on da Costa’s Web site.

Listening Post by Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin is not a new piece, but it was generally agreed that it has become a classic of the digital genre in which very few pieces hold their own over time.

A talk by Tiffany Holmes alerted us to her eco-visualization projects.

Colin Ives’s Nocturne was an interactive media installation focusing on animals that have found successful niches within the urban and suburban landscape.

We couldn’t find a great link for Hu Jie Ming’s Altitude Zero project, but it was one Stretcher crew member’s top pick. Here’s the information that exists from the festival site.

Tamiko Thiel’s Travels of Mariko Horo uses time-travel-story tactics, something like Faith Ringgold’s French Collection with a joystick.

Take advantage of your neurocapital with Luther Thie’s Acclair (which also won a festival prize.)

Last but not least, links to the works of the brilliant art historian Edward Shanken and digital maven Danny Butt.

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