PRESS RELEASE

X-Factor Announces Online Conference for Experimental Media

http://thecity.sfsu.edu/users/XFactor

X-Factor, the national coalition for the advocacy of experimental media,
announces the X-Factor Online Conference for Experimental Media on the
Internet's World Wide Web, concerning the state of experimental film and
video. This interactive conference features provocative writings and
discussions by leading media artists, curators and critics regarding the
critical issues facing the art form today. Visitors to the site are
invited to engage in the ongoing discussions and help map out strategies
for activism. The site also includes a Hall of Shame, framing
adversaries of the art form; a Flame Thrower section, where visitors can
"flame" about their pet peeves; site alterations; bulletin boards;
resources; and much more.

Responding to the near elimination of public and private funds for the
production, exhibition and distribution of their work, the experimental
media community straddles the unpleasant chasm between extinction and
complete absorption by such corporate entities as advertising and music
videos. The X-Factor Online Conference for Experimental Media provides
an opportunity for film and video makers, artists, curators, writers,
fellow-travelers, funders and the general public to discuss and debate
the current state of the (dis)union facing experimental media in the
last gasps of the Twentieth Century.

The pervasive influence of moving image technology, from its nascent
mechanical beginnings through its current electronic morphings, arguably
situates media as the dominant art form of this century. Experimental
media's place in this often corporate-dominated endeavor, especially in
the current fad of appropriation and re-circulation of ideas, requires a
critical examination of this art form's present and future.

Conference panelists include Claire Aguilar, Program Manager of KCET-TV
and Board of Directors, Independent Television Service; Thyrza Goodeve,
writer and educator; Bill Horrigan, Curator of Media, Wexner Center;
Laura Marks, writer, programmer and educator; Yvonne Rainer, filmmaker;
Nino Rodriguez, media artist; Keith Sanborn, filmmaker and writer; David
Sherman, filmmaker and Administrative Director, Canyon Cinema; Elisabeth
Subrin, video artist and curator; and Julie Zando, video artist and
founding member of Squeaky Wheel.

Founded in 1992, X-Factor is a coalition of film and video artists,
curators, and arts administrators who came together to form a viable
constituency and to advocate nationally for experimental media.

The X-Factor Online Conference for Experimental Media is made possible,
in part, through a grant from the now defunct National Alliance of Media
Arts Centers' Media Arts Fund, a program of the National Endowment for
the Arts. The conference is sponsored by the San Francisco Cinematheque.

Contact X-Factor at xfactor@thecity.sfsu.edu or phone Jack Walsh at
415-206-9596 for more information.