presented by ZKM (Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany) PARIS CONNECTION Paris Connection is co-produced and co-published by Arteonline.arq.br (Rio), Coriolisweb.org (Toronto), dichtung-digital.org (Berlin), Turbulence.org (New York). It contains introductions to, interviews with, and reviews on: Jean-Jacques Birgé, Nicolaus Clauss, Frédéric Durieu, Jean-Luc Lamarque, Antoine Schmitt, Servovalve. For French, Portuguese and Spanish version see: http://vispo.com/thefrenchartists. The version on dichtung-digitial is made possible by ZKM. credits editorial introduction digital art | Birgé intro interv. | Clauss intro interv. review | Durieu interv. review | Lamarque intro interv. | Schmitt intro interv. review | Servovalve intro interv. review

EDITORIAL by Regina Célina Pinto, Jim Andrews, Nancy Paterson, Roberto Simanowksi, Helen Thorington Paris Connection is the first co-production project involving the Museum of the Essential and Beyond. It starts out with a new concept of art criticism. Using all kinds of media, five producers from different parts of the globe link up with a group of French artists with high creative voltage to get to know them and present, in several languages and in different venues around the world, their admirable art forms built from algorithms. By taking part in this co-production, the Museum of the Essential and Beyond That reaffirms its main objective: disseminating present-day art and its new forms of beauty that could only have arisen from the convergence of art and science. Paris Connection seems to have been tailored for Arteonline.arq.br, which provides both a museum and a place for creation and communication where the visual arts also incorporate music, cinema (animation), poetry, books, criticism, and audiovisual poetry. Regina Célia Pinto - Arteonline.arq.br Co-publishing a project such as Paris Connection is a way of expanding collaboratively to amplify the critical process and also the exposure, finally. The writers/producers talk about the work together via email, phone, and in person when the opportunity arises, correspond with the artists, and people find ways to contribute their best insight. Paris Connection is the first project of coriolisweb.org. Coriolisweb is a project which is hosted at The Centre for Creative Communications. The idea for Coriolisweb is to create a site where co-operative, critical projects and art projects can be coordinated and sometimes commissioned through wide international communications. The project also involves plans to set up two servers hosting interesting technologies for artists to explore and use. The server is to web.artists and many other types of digital artists what the gallery is to visual artists. Jim Andrews - vispo.com, webartery.com Nancy Paterson - vacuumwoman.com dichtung-digital.org provides reviews, interviews, and scholarship on digital aesthetics. The journal was founded in 1999 and features contributions in both German and English. dichtung-digital.org aims to bridge both the gap between journalism and academia as well as the gap between digital literature and digital art. Sharing the same interests and enthusiasm towards like-minded concepts and goals, it is not surprising that dichtung-digital.org was enthusiastic about Paris Connection and offered to contribute to it. Paris Connection considers the work of six fascinating Frenchmen who combine cool programming and philosophical reflection, representing a version of software-art different from what Lev Manovich depicts in his essay "Generation Flash." According to Manovich "...this generation does not care if their work is called art or design. This generation is no longer interested in "media critique" which preoccupied media artists of the last two decades." Paris Connection explores the extent to which this generation still cares and is still interested. The important questions for a journal on digital aesthetics like dichtung-digital.org: What message lies behind the cool design? Which tradition lies before it? Roberto Simanowski - dichtung-digital.org Co-publishing Paris Connection is an exciting addition to the Guest Curators section on Turbulence in which independent artists and curators contribute fresh perspectives on net art and culture, both in their choice of work and their critical commentaries. Paris Connection showcases a loosely-knit community of artists who know each other and sometimes collaborate with one another. Both the uniqueness of each artist and the connections between them make their presentation on Turbulence particularly noteworthy. That the critical commentary in Paris Connection comes from curators in Brazil, Canada, Germany and the U.S., and appears in the languages of these nations as well as in French and Spanish, is also an exciting new turn. Along with the chat section and the email list, it is our hope that Paris Connection will encourage wide discussion on net art among the international community and lead to many similar collaborations in the future. New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. (NRPA)—Turbulence’s parent organization—was founded in 1981 to foster the development of new and experimental work for radio and sound arts. In 1996, it extended its mandate to net art. Turbulence has commissioned, exhibited, distributed, and archived over 60 net art works and 20 multilocation performance events. Helen Thorington - turbulence.org   published on dichtung-digital 2/2003, February 2003