the social side of computing, synthesizing knowledge from fields such

as graphic design, urban studies and cognitive science to build

innovative interfaces for online communities and virtual identities.

She is known internationally for pioneering research in social

visualization, interface design, and computer mediated interaction.

She created several of the early social applications for the web,

including the first postcard service (“The Electric Postcard”), the

first interactive juried art show (“Portraits in Cyberspace”) and an

early large-scale web event (“A Day in the Life of Cyberspace”). Her

work has been exhibited at the Institute for Contemporary Art in

Boston and in several New York galleries; she was the director of “Id/

Entity”, a collaborative exhibit of installations examining how

science and technology’ are transforming portraiture. Her current

research focuses on creating expressive visualizations of social

interactions and on building experimental environments that mix real

and virtual experiences. She has a book in progress about how we

signal identity in both mediated and immediate situations. Professor

Donath received her doctoral and master’s degrees in Media Arts and

Sciences from MIT, her bachelor’s degree in History from Yale

University, and has worked professionally as a designer and builder

of educational software and experimental media.

— Orm Finnendahl —

— Lecture —

10.27.06 – Friday, 4:00 PM

Orwig 315, Brown University

composition “Versatzstücke” for piano and computer music.

(Versatzstücke will be performed Friday evening at 8pm in Sayles hall.)

Part of the Music Department’s “Music, Culture & Technology”

colloquia series.

Orm Finnendahl is Professor of Electronic Composition and Head of the

Electronic Studio at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg, Germany. He has

received numerous prizes for his interactive compositions, including

the Kompositionspreis Stuttgart, the Busoni Prize Berlin, a CYNETart

Award Dresden and a Prix Ars Electronica prize.

Finnendahl has collaborated with many well-known contemporary music

and multimedia groups, including the Ensemble Modern, recherche,

Mosaik, Champ d’action, Palindrome Inter-Media Performance Group,

AlienNation, and Burkhard Beins. A new portrait CD of Finnendahl’s

music is scheduled for release on the WERGO Records “Edition

Zeitgenössische Musik” series in 2006.

— Robert Boston concert of contemporary piano music —

— Concert —

10.27.06 – Friday, 8:00 PM

Sayles Hall, Brown University

Op. 22.

Biographies:

Robert Boston, pianist

New York City based pianist/composer Robert Boston performs

classical, jazz, and contemporary music; his repertoire includes

recent masters such as Messiaen, Stockhausen, Cage and Ligeti. While

rigorously studying twentieth-century and new music, he continues to

find inspiration in jazz and free improvisation. Boston trained at

the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover, Germany under Arie Vardi, among

other places, and his performances include a performance of

Prokofieff”s Second Concerto with the Dallas Symphony. He has also

participated in collective composition experiments and organized

evenings of visual and performance art in New York, Houston and

Berlin. He is currently an accompanist with the Martha Graham Center

and Mark Morris Dance Group.

Orm Finnendahl, composer

Born in Düsseldorf in 1963, Orm Finnendahl studied Composition,

Musicology and Computer Music in Berlin after some involvement in the

Berlin experimental music scene. He had a 1988/89 scholarship at the

California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles and in 1995-98

continued his studies with Helmut Lachenmann in Stuttgart. He has

collaborated with ensembles specializing in contemporary music

(Ensemble Modern, recherche, Mosaik, Champ d’action, etc.) as well as

with video and multimedia artists, dancers and soloists (Palindrome,

AlienNation, Burkhard Beins, etc.). He has won numerous awards and

prizes, among them Kompositionspreis Stuttgart, Busoni Prize Berlin,

CYNETart Award Dresden and Prix Ars Electronica Linz. A portrait CD

for the “Edition Zeitgenössische Musik” of WERGO Records is in

preparation. Currently Orm Finnendahl is Professor of Electronic

Composition and Head of the Electronic Studio at the Musikhochschule

Freiburg.

— sonic.focus —

— Screenings —

Modern Culture and Media Cinematheque, 135 Thayer Street, Brown

University

10.27.06 – Friday, 6:00 PM

Roisz, Leslie Thornton, and others. The screenings will take place

from 6-9pm on October 20th and 27th in the Modern Culture and Media

Cinematheque, 135 Thayer Street in Providence.

For complete schedules and further details, visit: http://

— sonic.focus — Symposium / Performances —11.03-11.04.06, Friday and

Saturday

— Douglas Kahn — Lecture — 11.07.06 – Tuesday, 7:00 PM

COMING SOON (details)

— sonic.focus —

— Symposium / Performances —

Modern Culture and Media, Brown University

11.03-11.04.06, Friday and Saturday

with film & video screenings on October 20th and 27th, the events

will culminate in a conference and performance series to be held at

Brown University on November 3 and 4, 2006.

This program is prompted by the emergence over the past decade of an

auditory culture that parallels the dominant visual culture. Among

the phenomena that signal this emergence are: the increasing presence

of sound in visual arts exhibitions and venues; the proliferation of

visual and media practices in which sound is central to meaning; and

the development of a body of theory that examines the nature,

history, and circulation of sound as a useful social or conceptual

model.

The aim of the conference is to foster a fruitful dialogue among

theorists and practitioners working at the intersection of the visual

and the sonic arts. Keynote speakers will include David Toop,

Diedrich Diederichsen, and Douglas Kahn. Panels will include

presentations by Christian Marclay, Renee Green, Stephen Vitiello,

Steve Roden, and others. Finally, two nights of performances will

include appearances by artists such as Tony Conrad, Robert Lippok,

AGF & Sue C. and David Shea. All talks and panels will take place at

the Joukowsky Forum, 111 Thayer Street in Providence.

The program opens with two nights of screenings exploring classic and

contemporary films and videos by Oskar Fischinger, Hans Richter,

Kenneth Anger, Brian Eno, Phill Niblock, Carsten Nicolai, Billy

Roisz, Leslie Thornton, and others. The screenings will take place

from 6-9pm on October 20th and 27th in the Modern Culture and Media

Cinematheque, 135 Thayer Street in Providence.

sonic.focus is organized by Tony Cokes, Christoph Cox, and Roger

Mayer, and sponsored by the Department of Modern Culture and Media,

Brown University. Additional support for sonic.focus has been

provided by the Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Research in Culture and

Media Studies; the Creative Arts Council (Fitt Artists-in-Residence);

The C.V. Starr Foundation Lectureships Fund; Global Security Program

of the Watson Institute for International Studies; German Studies

Department; and the Goethe-Institut (Boston).

For complete schedules and further details, visit: http://

— Lecture —

11.07.06 – Tuesday, 7:00 PM

RISD Auditorium (North Main St.)