Art and the Imagination

While the Art Gallery has always been a showcase for artists on the cutting edge of technology, this year's works fuse art and emerging technologies into an inseparable whole. "In the electronic arts exhibition, the imaginations of our artists run wild," says chairwoman Diane Gromala. The 70-plus gallery works include "traditional" types of computer-generated art, such as digital paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculptures. Assuming a more dominant presence, though, are "alternative" art forms, such as interactive installations, Web-based art, and performances.

Always a Siggraph highlight, the Computer Animation Festival presents the year's best computer-generated films and videos-some completed, others works in progress-in the areas of entertainment, visualization, education, and art. Selected as the Best of Show by the festival jury is the opening animation for the console game Onimusha, produced by Capcom for the PlayStation2. Capturing the Juries Honor Award is Stationen, a short animated film by Christian Sawade-Meyer. These clips as well as a large selection of others-many of which have appeared throughout the year in the pages of Computer Graphics World-will be presented in the daily Animation Theaters, Electronic Theater, and at special Siggraph events.

A sampling of images from the Art Gallery are featured on these two pages, while highlights from the Electronic Theater are displayed on the following spread. -Karen Moltenbrey

"99.8A" by Kenneth A. Huff