[rohrpost] Otto E. Roessler wird 60: Sciences of the Interface conf., May2000

[Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck@v2.nl>]

Sciences of the Interface

An international symposium on the historical, philosophical, mathematical,
physical, biological, social, artistic and technical aspects of the
interface

In honour of the 60th birthday of Otto E. Roessler

ZKM Karlsruhe, 18 - 21 May, 2000


On the occasion of Otto E. Roessler's 60th birthday an international
conference will take place in Karlsruhe in May of 2000. As is clear, the
science of the interface is at the epicenter of Rössler's research. Besides
his pioneering contributions in systems theory and chaos, he has
concentrated his recent work in the area he calls endophysics where the
interface between human mind and the rest of the world plays the central
role. Rössler's work has also inspired and provoked numerous scientists and
media theorists to reconsider the cartesian cut - interfaces that can be
either located or not.

Because the broad implications of interfaciology (in Rössler's term) extend
across disciplines, we are proposing a symposium that looks as much at
physical, biological, mathematical, and engineering aspects of the
interface as it does the historical, philosophical, social, and artistic
interpretations that are enveloped in the emerging discourses of
techno-culture. This would suggest that areas such as cognitive systems,
complex systems theory, and the brain sciences, will be as relevant to the
discussion as cinema, television, media art, theories of representation and
spectatorship in experiential conditions driven less by singular states and
more by transformations.

From a mathematical point of view, the so-called category theory seems to
be promising in an ontological endophysics approach. However, within the
epistemological framework of quantum mechanics other mathematical tools may
be more appropriate. Indeed, it has been quantum mechanics that impelled
scientists to ``propose'' new philosophies and theories. Hugh Everett's
many-world-theory is an important example. Rössler's work though proposes a
deeper understanding of quantum mechanics through a reconceptualization of
the interface. As Peter Weibel suggests, The endo approach offers a promise
to the complex technoworld of the electronic epoch.

The broad concept of the interface emerged in the fields of computation and
in human-machine interactions of early cybernetics. Widely theorized as an
aspect of software design, the interface languished in metaphors of the
page, the desktop, and worse still, in point-and-click interactions that
enslaved users. The limitations of a notion of the interface based on the
binary opposition of user-machine have hindered a consideration of the
interface as a state linked more with what Rössler identifies as
"assignment conditions'' than with the typically programmed behaviors of
software interfaces. In this context, haptic interfaces, that permit both
feedback and performance on physical or virtual objects are a promising
development.


The conference will be held at the ZKM - Zentrum für Kunst und
Medientechnologie (Center for Art and Media Technology) in Karlsruhe. It
begins on Thursday 18 May 2000 at 9:00am and ends on Sunday 21 May 2000 at
3:00pm. Invited lectures will be distributed throughout each day. The
official language for the symposium will be English.


The symposium is public and we hope that you seriously take into
consideration to attend this ground-breaking event.


Organising committee: Peter Weibel with Hans H. Diebner and Timothy Druckrey

Programme information:
http://arne.zkm.de/symposium/




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