This symposium provides a glimpse into the past and the future of the
computer-assisted construction of reality. It will consider different
aspects of the provocative and lively exchange between fantasy and
reality, concentrating particularly on the role of computers and
computer networks.

The symposium covers three days, each of which will concentrate on a
separate theme: Net, Trip and Sound. On the first day, Net, the
symposium will examine the 'protocols' with which reality is
'engineered'. The second day, Trip, will look at various aspects of
reality engineering and guide us through the cool language of the
computer, the gentle world of drugs, and the unbounded environment of
outer space. The third day is given over to Sound: science fiction,
music and the plastic arts will be reviewed as products of the computer.

Speakers include Mercedez Bunz, editor of the German magazine de:Bug,
Kim Cascone, a recording artist and head of "Silent Records", Jodi Dean,
author of Aliens in America, George Dyson, author of Darwin among the
Machines, and the visual artist Miltos Manetas.