BIOS: The Poetics of Life in Digital Mediais coming to West Virginia University Sept. 15-16.

BIOS is an interdisciplinary symposium gathering artists and scholars for an exploration of the re-invention of life in digital media. The program combines new media performances and cyborg art, scholarly discussions of biotechnics and prosthetics, critical reflections on everyday virtual life, and presentations on the theory and practice of electronic literature.

“The participants are internationally-known artists and thinkers, leaders in their fields. The program is unique and cuts across disciplines along broad and inclusive lines,”says Dr. Sandy Baldwin, director of the Center for Literary Computing in WVU s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.”In the most general sense,”he adds,”the symposium argues that digital media technologies are not the cold inhuman number-crunching machines as they are often portrayed, but sites of human embodiment, aliveness, and performance.”

On Friday, Sept. 15, the symposium will take place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Mountaineer Room at the WVU Mountainlair. Evening performances follow at 123 Pleasant, on Pleasant Street in downtown Morgantown.

On Saturday, Sept. 16, the event moves to the WVU Creative Arts Center, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Falbo Theater, and from 3-10 p.m. in the Bloch Theater. All events are free and open to the public.

BIOS is hosted by the Center for Literary Computing and the Division of Art in WVU s College of Creative Arts.

Support for the event comes from WVU ’s Department of English, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and College of Creative Arts. Additional support is provided by the Electronic Poetry Center and Digital Media Studies Program at the State University of New York (SUNY)-Buffalo.

More information, including a complete schedule of events, is available at http://www.clc.wvu.edu “> http://www.clc.wvu.edu or by contacting Dr. Sandy Baldwin, assistant professor of English, at 304 -293-3107 ext. 33452 or charles.baldwin@mail.wvu.edu