ICE Meeting Notes
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
1:00 PM 101 Tanner Building

In attendance: Molly Azami, Tom Black, Mark Callahan, Carmon Colangelo, George Contini, Stephen Corey, Christian Croft, Kathryn Hammond, Rongrong Liu, Laleh Mehran, Roger Moore, Julie Orlemanski, Kate Ross, David Saltz, Bala Sarasvati, Susan Thomas, Maren Vercruysse.

Activities Report

1.  ICE has created an internship opportunity for 3 credits/semester to assist with projects and research. Maren Vercruysse is the ICE intern for spring 2003.

2. The ICE room (101 Tanner Building) has been developed further.  The room serves as a project development space, office and opportunity posting center.  Recent improvements are the addition of large dry erase board, DLP video projector, speakers and telephone, 542-7270.  ICE office hours begin this semester, from 2-5 daily.

3. The ICE web site will be re-launched soon.  The new site is code and database driven, allowing ICE to maintain an archive in addition to Flash and HTML web sites.  A team of Masters of Internet Technology(MIT) students are working on XML and Wireless Access Protocol(WAP) development to deliver ICE content to wireless devices(news, people, projects)  and other web sites(news).  Other benefits of this phase of site development are that the site can be updated automatically and the database will be searchable.

4. A call for membership will accompany the relaunch of the site.  People interested in joining ICE can use an electronic membership form.  ICE members will be listed in the "people" section of the site along with biographical information, areas of expertise, research interests, images, links to websites and curricula vitae.  The goal is to create a searchable knowledge network, where potential collaborators can locate each other.

5. The first ICE Project Grants were administered during the fall semester.  The grant program emerged from the desire to allow projects determine the direction of ICE.  A call for proposals was announced and three projects were selected to receive grants for up to $5,000 each. The first call for proposals was purposefully fast-tracked to gain a quick sampling of project ideas that exist locally and on campus.  The grants required that the lead applicant be a UGA faculty member or graduate student and the finished projects be delivered by the end of May, 2003. This approach allowed the grant program to be initiated without delay and provided for feedback to help shape the next grant cycle.  The next call for proposals will be announced in the spring, feature expanded eligibility and allow for longer proposal and project development.  The grants will be awarded in the fall contingent on funding.

2002-2003 ICE Project Grant Presentations

1. A Good Man Is Hard to Find, a chamber opera based on story by Flannery O'Connor.  George Contini (Drama faculty), lead applicant.  Features an original score by David Volk, a doctoral candidate in Music.  The project is also supported by a faculty development grant from Piedmont College.  The project will involve students from Drama and Music and is tentatively scheduled to be performed April 12-13 at Seney Stovall Chapel.  It will also be performed at the Flannery O'Connor Conference in October 2003.  The project is currently seeking a music director and two children, preferably with voice training and stage experience, to complete the cast.

2. Somos Pobres,  Pero No Hay Pobreza Aqui (We Are Poor, but There Is No Poverty Here), a digital video cross-cultural documentary focusing on education in rural  Mexico.  H. James McLaughlin (Education),lead applicant.  Participants include Kathryn Hammond (MFA Drama 2002),  Jennifer McLung (Science Education), students and faculty in Drama and  Education and recent UGA graduates. Professors McLaughlin and McLung are also supported by a Fulbright Fellowship, Rotary International Teacher Grant and a Teaching and Learning grant from UGA. The project follows the daily lives of three sisters who are teachers in a rural school in Xalapa, Mexico.  The finished project will be shown simultaneously in Athens and Veracruz on June 28.  The video will examine and critique the effects of dominant discourse on the perception of education in Mexico and Mexican immigrant children in US public schools.  The project team will also conduct digital video workshops while in Mexico.

3. eco-log, a multimedia performance that explores the impact of urban sprawl on local ecology.  Kate Ross (Visual Arts MFA candidate), lead applicant.  The performance will be a synthesis of dance trapeze, recycled fiber installation, music, spoken word and digital video projection at Canopy Studios, non-profit arts center in Athens.  It is a large-scale collaboration involving Canopy Studio, UGA students and recent graduates, and volunteers from the community.  The project follows on the recent successful run of "Big Box Blues" at Canopy Studios, a similarly issue-driven performance that received a positive response from the community. The performance will occur during the last week of April.  Interested volunteers can contact Kate Ross at [log in to unmask]

Opportunities

1. Crit Club: Crit Club is a way for people from various backgrounds and practices to meet on a regular basis to share ideas and show works in progress.  Crit Club resumes this semester starting Monday, February 3.  This is a great opportunity to meet people from other disciplines, to get a fresh perspective on a project you are working on, or to brainstorm on new projects.  Crit Club meets at the ICE room every first and third Monday of the month at 1:00 PM and every second and fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:00 PM. To download a flyer visit www.visart.uga.edu/critclubflyer.pdf

2. ICE Summit Planning Committee:  To plan a state-of-the-art conference for October 2003.  The goal is to produce a strong local event that can be documented and disseminated internationally in the form of a web/print publication.  The committee will choose a date, determine a theme, invite multiple speakers, and develop strategies to document the proceedings. The 2001 Summit keynote lecture featured Jaron Lanier, a computer scientist, musician and virtual reality developer and had an attendance of approximately 200 people. Faculty from a wide range of disciplines are especially encouraged to participate; by investing in the planning process they will be able to bring exemplary creative practitioners to UGA for the Summit. Possible themes include sound, performance technology, open source net art, telematics, and changing roles for artists in the 21st century.  Mark Callahan will be the committee chair. Please share this opportunity with interested faculty and students and encourage them to contact ICE as soon as possible to participate in the Summit planning.

3. ICE-NMI wireless art projects:  Last fall the New Media Institute(NMI) launched a wireless network in downtown Athens.  The wireless cloud covers an approximately 24-block area and serves as the locus for mobile communication research.  This spring ICE will collaborate with the students and faculty of NMI to produce a group of wireless art projects to be featured during the Twilight Criterium event on April 25.  The projects will be designed in collaboration with the NMI capstone class, NMIX 4510, using wireless web development strategies for hand-held computers.  The project will allow participants to develop new content and contribute significant research to an emerging medium that engages concepts of public space, movement, interactivity, language, time-based and site-specific art, virtual and physical space, and technology.  An information session for interested participants is tentatively scheduled for Monday, February 17 at 3:30 at the New Media Institute.  Updates will follow via the ICE listserv.  Please share the word and direct inquiries to ICE.

4. Athens-Liverpool sound project: a joint project of ICE and Colin Fallows of John Moores University, Liverpool, England.  Colin Fallows has been involved in an extensive number of international sound projects (as presented during ICE Summit 2001) including "Sound Drifting", featured at the 1999 Ars Electronica Festival, "Artstream: Sounds from Near and Far", sponsored by New Media Scotland and a series of limited-edition recording/publication packages published by Audio Research Editions.  The Athens-Liverpool sound project will draw upon Colin's expertise and UGA's book arts program to produce a limited-edition publication and recorded sound collection.  The project joins the images of Athens and Liverpool, two cities known for their distinctive music and art cultures, in an international sampling of experimental sound.  The project will be developed over the next year- contact ICE to become involved.

Future

1. ICE Collab 3: The first Collab brought together a group of artists from different disciplines to develop works for the ICE web site. ICE Collab 2 featured a series of performance workshops including a works by Miranda July, Circo Zero, and CORE.  This year our goal is to galvanize the communities of artists, programmers, engineers and designers that produce new media at the University and in Athens.  The events will draw participants from ICE, computer science, information management, faculty of engineering, communications and the arts to meet and hopefully spark new high-tech artistic collaboration.  The events will occur during the week of March 25 and feature a presentation by Steve Dietz, Curator of New Media Initiatives at the Walker Art Center.  For more information about new media at the Walker visit http://www.walkerart.org/gallery9.  The events schedule for ICE Collab 3 will follow.

2. Exploratory committee on curriculum: The development of a pedagogical component for ICE has been discussed since its inception.  We will form an exploratory committee with a focus on projects, interdisciplinary research and professional practice.    One need that has become apparent is mentoring in regard to proposal development and arts research methodology. ICE could provide workshops to mentor artists, students and faculty in the development of sustainable practices, with an emphasis on locating and obtaining external funding for projects and strategies for applying for grants, residencies and exhibitions/performances/publications.  This would compliment ICE's emerging role as an arts resource/meeting center, where the subtle yet profound differences in arts funding are recognized and the shifting context of contemporary cultural production, which often defies categorization, is the subject of critical discourse.

3. Role of ICE:  ICE will continue to pursue its mission as an interdisciplinary unit for advanced research in the arts with a focus on collaboration, innovative practice and emerging technology.  The new ICE room serves as a critical meetspace for brainstorming, mentoring and presenting new works.  ICE is involved in the development of the National Art and Technology Network, initiated by The Kitchen in New York, and sponsored by a Ford Foundation grant.  Our involvement in the network provides project and exhibition opportunities directly to ICE.  ICE can help to facilitate new projects- ideas are always welcome.

Meeting notes prepared by Mark Callahan. Email additions/amendments to [log in to unmask]