Are humans being replaced in media arts and entertainment? If so, what new types life forms will arise? Artists and designers are delving more deeply into immersive environments and creating bio-artificial life forms. This panel of media experts will discuss the role of emergence, hybridity, artificial life systems, adaptive AI agents, temporal representatives, and full-body immersivity which are forming a new and evolving visual system of social synthetics in film, TV, gaming, and other mechanism of entertainment and interactivity.
Matthew Patrick (matthewpatrick.tv) is a director of feature films, TV movies and short films.
Michael Masucci is an acknowledged pioneer in the desktop and digital video movement, and an award-winning writer, producer, director, photographer, editor and musician, whose work has been seen on the BBC, BRAVO, PBS as well as in such institutions as the Museum of Modern Art ( New York ), the Institute of Contemporary Art ( London ) and the American Film Institute, who honored Masucci, and his company EZTV, a 27 year-old media arts organization. Masucci has produced in China, the U.K., Mexico, Croatia, Canada, Thailand, and throughout the United States, He has served as the international chair for Digital Video for SIGGRAPH, served on the Advisory Board for DV Expo, and has lectured and major conferences and universities internationally, as well as been profiled in various print & electronic media, including on the Discovery Channel, PBS, TechTV, the LA Times, Variety, the LA Weekly, Wired.com and Internet.com.
Natasha Vita-More is a media artist/designer and theorist, and a prominent proponent of ethical means for achieving human enhancement for the purpose of radical life extension. She has spoken world-wide on futurism and art for two decades. Currently a PhD candidate at the Planetary Collegium, University of Plymouth, UK, where she is working on the post-biological transformations of the human through the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive/neuro science (NBIC). Natasha has a background in film and video, is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and was a filmmaker in residence at the Inter’l film Archive, worked with Zoetrope and Twentieth Century Fox studios, has exhibited performative and directed works in Women in Video, US Film Festival, BBC Films, Moscow Film Festival, and National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Kaliningrad. Her works have been featured in The New York Times, Wired, U.S. News & World Report, Net Business, Village Voice and Teleopolis, and in more than 24 televised documentaries. She is an advisor for several non-profit organizations and is fellow of IEET.
Jeannie Novak is the founder of Indiespace—one of the first companies to promote and distribute interactive entertainment online—where she provides social networking, project management, and consulting services for educators, game developers, and independent creative professionals in the game, music, and film industries. Jeannie is Lead Author and Series Editor of the widely acclaimed Game Development Essentials series (with 12 titles currently on the market), co-author of Play the Game: The Parent’s Guide to Video Games, and co-author of three pioneering books on the interactive entertainment industry, including Creating Internet Entertainment. Jeannie was Online Program Director for the Game Art & Design and Media Arts & Animation programs at the Art Institute Online, where she was also Producer & Lead Designer on an educational business simulation game that was built within the Second Life environment. She has also been a game instructor and curriculum development expert at UCLA Extension, Art Center College of Design, Academy of Entertainment and Technology at Santa Monica College, DeVry University, Westwood College, and ITT Technical Institute—and she has consulted for the UC Berkeley Center for New Media and Alelo Tactical Language & Culture. Jeannie has developed or participated in game workshops and panels in association with events such as the Game Developers Conference (GDC), Macworld Expo, Digital Hollywood, and Digital Music Forum. She is Game Conference Chair for the upcoming ANIMIAMI conference, member of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), and member of the Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) and Online Excellence Awards selection committees for the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) DICE Awards. Jeannie was chosen as one of the 100 most influential people in high-technology by MicroTimes magazine—and she has been profiled by CNN, Billboard Magazine, Sundance Channel, Daily Variety, and the Los Angeles Times. She received an M.A. in Communication Management from USC, where she focused on using MMOGs as online distance learning applications. Jeannie is also an accomplished composer, recording artist, and performer (piano/voice). More information is available at http://indiespace.com and http://jeannie.com.
Natasha Vita-More’s PPT slides
Jeannie Novak’s PPT slides
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