Organizing Committee

ISEA2015 Symposium Directors

Dr. Philippe Pasquier (isea2015-philippe@sfu.ca)

Dr. Thecla Schiphorst (isea2015-thecla@sfu.ca)

ISEA2015 Artistic Directors

Malcolm Levy (isea2015-malcolm@sfu.ca)

Kate Armstrong (isea2015-kate@sfu.ca)

Dr. Philippe Pasquier is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Chair at Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology. He is both a scientist specialized in artificial intelligence and a multi-disciplinary artist. His contributions range from theoretical research in artificial intelligence, multi-agent systems and machine learning to applied artistic research and practice in digital art, computer music, and generative art. Philippe is the Chair and investigator of the AAAI series of international workshop on Musical Metacreation (MUME), the MUME-WE concerts series and the International workshop on Movement and Computation (MOCO). He has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed contributions, presented in forums ranging from the most scientifically rigorous to the most creatively arty. Find out more about Philippe’s work in his lab, the MAMAS laboratory and at http://philippepasquier.com

Dr. Thecla Schiphorst is Associate Director and Associate Professor in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. Her background in dance and computing form the basis for her research in embodied interaction, focusing on movement knowledge representation, tangible and wearable technologies, media and digital art, and the aesthetics of interaction. Her research goal is to expand the practical application of embodied theory within Human Computer Interaction. She is a member of the original design team that developed Life Forms, the computer compositional tool for choreography, and collaborated with Merce Cunningham from 1990 to 2005 supporting his creation of new dance with the computer. Thecla has an Interdisciplinary MA under special arrangements in Computing Science and Dance from Simon Fraser University (1993), and a Ph.D. (2008) from the School of Computing at the University of Plymouth.

Thecla Schiphorst is the recipient of the 1998 PetroCanada Award in New Media, a biennial award presented to a Canadian Artist for their contribution to innovation in art & technology in Canada. Her media art installations have been exhibited internationally in Europe, Canada, the United States and Asia in many venues including Ars Electronica, the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival (DEAF), Future Physical, Siggraph, the Wexner Centre for the Arts, the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, and the London ICA. Thecla Schiphorst leads the whisper[s] research group an acronym for: wearable, handheld, intimate, sensory, personal, expressive, responsive systems, and is the Director of MovingStories: Digital Tools for Movement, Meaning and Interaction, a SSHRC funded International Institutional Research Partnership.

Malcolm Levy is an artist and curator based in Vancouver, Canada. He is the co-founder and current Artistic Director of the New Forms Festival (1999–present), and was the curator of CODE Live at the 2010 Winter Olympics, where he oversaw the installation of over 40 interactive media artworks and 8 performances across the city. He is the Artistic Director of ISEA 2015 with Kate Armstrong. His work was recently shown at WAAP (Vancouver, 2015), Transfer (NY, 2015), ISEA2014 (Dubai, 2014), CSA (Vancouver, 2014) Supermarkt (Berlin, 2013) Audain Gallery (When we stop and they begin’, Vancouver, 2012), in the “Occupy Wall Street” exhibition (New York, 2011), Grimmuseum (Framework, Berlin, 2011), Nuit Blanche (A Place to Reflect (Nuit Blanche Toronto 2011) and Transmission (Victoria, 2011).

Other recent projects include developing a media lab for the grunt gallery in Vancouver, working on a Satellite project for the Goethe Institut, and producing a series of commissioned artworks for Urban Screens in connection with McLuhan in Europe 2011. He is the founder and Director of Hybridity. Comprised of a music label, a curatorial and consulting division, and a project team installation artwork and software development, Hybridity is made up of a collection of artists, producers, thinkers, and technicians. http://hybriditymusic.com/about

Malcolm is currently completely his MA in Media Studies at the New School.

Kate Armstrong, is a Vancouver-based artist, writer, and independent curator producing exhibitions, events and publications in contemporary media art in Vancouver, Canada and internationally. She is a founder of Revised Projects and co-directed the Goethe Satellite, an initiative of the Goethe-Institut to produce 10 exhibitions and commissions in Vancouver between 2011-2013. Recent curatorial projects include the electronic literature commission Tributaries and Text-Fed Streams (2008) for the Capilano Review, Group Show (2010) for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Electric Speed (2011-2012) for the Surrey Art Gallery, Extract: Text Works from the Archive (2012) for Grunt Gallery and Live/Work and Hypercube (2013) for the New Forms Festival. Armstrong is the author of Crisis & Repetition: Essays on Art and Culture (Michigan State University Press, 2002). Other books include Medium (2011), Source Material Everywhere (2011), and the 12 volume Path (2008/2012). Armstrong is Director of the Social + Interactive Media (SIM) Centre at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. http://www.kateArmstrong.com