**NEW CLUB NIGHT** on 7 SEPTEMBER with **JOHN MCCORMACK**

Thursday September 7th, 2006 at 6pm until 8pm in the Lecture Theatre, 
Ben Pimlott Building, Goldsmiths, University of London, New Corss, SE14 6NW

FREE, ALL ARE WELCOME


Dear friends

We hope you had a lovely summer and are ready for a new round of 
Thursday Club events...

... starting on **SEPTEMBER 7, 6-8pm **with a presentation by **JOHN 
MCCORMACK**, Co-director, Centre for Electronic Media Arts, Monash 
University (Australia)
::

***SIMULATION, SYSTEMS, ARTIFICE***

In this talk I will give an overview of how I have used generative 
processes as a creative system. My aim is to enable new modes of 
creative expression with computation that are unique to the medium. Most 
existing software tools borrow their operational metaphor from existing 
creative practices: for example Photoshop uses the metaphor of a 
photographer's darkroom; 3D animation systems borrow from theatre, film 
and conventional cell animation. In a tool with an oeuvre as diverse as 
the modern digital computer, one would hope that computation itself as a 
medium might have things to offer that are not based on metaphors 
borrowed from other media. I will illustrate some possibilities using 
the software systems I have developed over the last 15 years and the 
creative works that I have produced with them. These works include: 
Turbulence: an interactive museum of unnatural history (1994); Eden an 
evolutionary ecosystem (2000-2005) and the Morphogenesis series of 
evolved forms (2002-2006). Examination of these works will be placed in 
a philosophical framework and historical context. I will also discuss 
some possibilities for future development of generative software based 
on these ideas.

About Jon McCormack:
John is an Australian-based electronic media artist and researcher in 
Artificial Life and Evolutionary Music and Art. His research interests 
include generative evolutionary systems, machine learning, L-systems and 
developmental models. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Computer 
Science and co-director of the Centre for Electronic Media Art (CEMA) at 
Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. CEMA is an interdisciplinary 
research centre established to explore new collaborative relationships 
between computing and the arts. John's artworks have been exhibited 
internationally a wide variety of galleries, museums and symposia, 
including the Museum of Modern Art (New York, USA), Tate 
Gallery(Liverpool, UK), ACM SIGGRAPH (USA), Prix Ars Electronica 
(Austria) and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (Australia).

www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jonmc
-- 

...And this is only the beginning... Now get your diaries and make a 
note for the rest of the Autumn term's Club nights, as you'll want to be 
there...
::

**NEW CLUB NIGHTS** NEW CLUB NIGHTS** NEW CLUB NIGHTS**

on *5 OCTOBER* with ***MICK GRIERSON***
::
*AUDIOVISUAL COMPOSITION AND THE AVANT-GARDES*

Mick is a musician, film-maker and researcher. He recently became a 
Research Fellow at the Goldsmiths Electronic Music Studios.
-- 

on *19 OCTOBER*

**UNEASY SPACES*

*Opening of a photo /video show in collaboration with the New York 
University

on *20 OCTOBER* CONFERENCE (will circulate info separately)
-- 

on *26 OCTOBER* with ***ADNAN HADZI & MARIA X***
::
*ON STRATEGIES OF SHARING: THE DEPTFORD.TV PROJECT*

Adnan is a PhD candidate and Visiting Lecturer at Goldsmiths (Media and 
Communications). Maria is a PhD candidate at Goldsmiths (Digital Studios 
& Drama) and Visiting Lecturer at Birkbeck.
-- 

on* 2 NOVEMBER* with ***BRIAN KAVANAGH***
::
*SONIC SENSORIUM*

Brian is an artist and musician. He is just completing his MA in 
Interactive Media at Goldsmiths.
-- 

on *16 NOVEMBER* with ***TIM HOPKINS***
::
**ELEPHANT AND CASTLE*: A PRESENTATION OF WORK-IN-PROGRESS ON A LYRIC 
THEATRE PIECE*

Tim is an opera and multimedia lyric theatre director, and a NESTA Fellow.
-- 

on *30 NOVEMBER* with ***MARK D'INVERNO***
::
**CELL*: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECT LOOKING AT NEW THEORIES OF STEM 
CELL BEHAVIOUR*

Mark is Professor of Computing at Goldsmiths with a research interest in 
intelligent agents and multi-agent systems.
-- 

on *14 DECEMBER* with SPEAKER TBC
-- 


Finally, just to remind you that

***THE THURSDAY CLUB: works in progress***

is an open forum discussion group for anyone interested in the theories 
and practices of cross-disciplinarity, interactivity, technologies and 
philosophies of the state-of-the-art in today’s (and tomorrow’s) 
cultural landscape(s).

Originally set up in October 2005 by Goldsmiths Digital Studios (GDS) as 
a more informal setting for research discussions, it has grown to 
include over 80 members, artists, technologists, scientists, in fact, a 
growing diversity of people from different communities worldwide, that 
are now connected via an online forum and discussion group.

There are also regular meetings in ‘real space’ at the Ben Pimlott site 
of Goldsmiths, University of London. Anyone can attend these events. 
They are free, and in keeping them informal they allow for a more 
diverse and open ended discourse for people who perhaps would not have 
the opportunity to discuss ideas outside of their chosen discipline.


For more information on the Thursday Club check 
http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/cccc/thursday-club.php or email maria x: 
[log in to unmask]


-- 
Maria Chatzichristodoulou [aka maria x] PhD Art & Computational 
Technologies 15 Rodmell Regent Square London WC1H 8HX 
http://www.cybertheater.org

**********
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