ISEA 2004

ISEA2004 IN A NUTSHELL

For one week in mid August 2004 Baltic Sea becomes the center of electronic music, new media research, art and design. ISEA2004 is the 12th Symposium on Electronic Arts, organised for the first time in two capital cities and a ferry between them. ISEA2004 is built from three event elements:
SEA [15-16/08/04]:

ISEA2004 CRUISE connects Baltic cities (Helsinki, Stockholm, Mariehamn, Tallinn) with a substantial programme that mixes an excellent line up of electronic music with sound art, networking sessions, performances and interactive installations. 1400 participants enjoying the programme turn Silja Opera ferry into an amazing hub for new media creative practices and industries. ISEA2004 CRUISE is a great party where you can talk, dance, drink, eat, sunbathe and relax with the most innovative group of peole that have ever set on sail.
TAL [17-18/08/04]:

ISEA2004 TALLINN, Estonia, launches the full scale symposium programme with Wearable experience conference, exhibitions, a club night, performances and more in major venues in the city.
HEL [19-22/08/04]:

ISEA2004 HELSINKI completes the ISEA2004 JOURNEY with the themes Wireless Experience, Histories of the New, Open Source and Software as Culture explored in the conference at media centre LUME and at the exhibition at The Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.
Koneisto [13-14/08/04]

Festival for electronic music and arts just before ISEA2004 offers a rich variety of electronic music. At Koneisto, ISEA2004 highlights from MUTEK festival mark an inspiring start for the whole week of programme.

ISEA2004 is a unique opportunity to experience new technologies and their cultural practices. The "new" is always afloat, yet we feel that there is a strong need also to keep one's feet grounded. ISEA2004 higlights the latest work in wireless, networked and wearable in the cultural domain of new media. We emphasize experience over technology, history and analytical vision over hype.

In Tallinn and in Helsinki, ISEA2004 focuses, besides the conferences, on several public interfaces: the exibition, concerts, and work in the city space. We expect 1600 hundred professionals and nearly 200 000 visitors to attend different parts of the event. In order for research and innovation in new technologies to matter, it needs to be something that people can experience and find meaningful in their every day lives. This is what ISEA2004 is about: the culture of new technologies.

ISEA2004 will break new ground for new media culture, arts, and research as it travels through fresh waters as a physical, critical, and creative event. Join the ISEA2004 experience!

Tapio Makela
ISEA2004 programme chair
m-cult, Helsinki

Mare Tralla
ISEA2004 Tallinn programme chair
Estonian Academy of Arts