Press Release<br>
http://wearcam.org/deconism/cyborg_echoes.htm
<h1>Cyborg Echoes: Collective Consciousness beyond the Post-Cyborg Era</h1>

<h2>Be part of cyborg history as the Deconism Gallery hosts the world's 
    first collective brainwave musical concert.</h2>

The Deconism and Interaccess galleries, are to host three events 
and ongoing exhibitions that explore the relationship between 
cyborg art, science, technology, architecture, design, philosophy, and law.  
Each of these works explores the premise that we've already (and 
in some cases unwittingly) become cyborgs, but that this 
transformation has occurred without an understanding of the 
implicit opportunities and threats to our collective minds and 
bodies.
<p>
Following a noon speaker series,
March 21 12:00pm-1:50pm, Prof. Ian Kerr, University of Ottawa, R. Owens,
and Prof. Steve Mann for Speaker Series, in Flavelle Dining Room,
University of Toronto, Speaking on Cyborg Law.  Open to the public.
<p>
<h1>DECONversation at Deconism Gallery</h1>
<h2>Friday March 21st, 7pm</h2>
330 Dundas Street West, located directly across the street from the 
main entrance to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).
<p>
<h2>Robotic Body vs Cyborg Mind: A Live Probe Into the Continuum of  
    Existentiality with Steve Mann and Stelarc</h2>
The McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University 
of Toronto presents an evening's  dialogue between Stelarc, an 
internationally recognized Australian performance artist and  public 
intellectual in the area of new media and technology, and Steve 
Mann, the acclaimed inventor of the  wearable computer and the 
world's first photographic cyborg. Stelarc and Mann have both 
probed the nature and workings  of the body and mind through 
technological mediation. The dialogue will be a  probe into a future 
of awareness, the nature of consciousness reacting to  
technological extensions, and the ensuing effects upon individuals, 
culture, and society.  Audience questions and participation are 
encouraged, and a  glogged transmission of the evening's event as 
seen through Steve Mann's wearable EyeTap system will be 
broadcast to the AD ASTRA 2003 science  fiction & fantasy 
convention. This event follows the opening of Stelarc's "The 
Prosthetic Head" at Interaccess Gallery.
<p>
For more information:
<a href=http://eyetap.org/deconism.htm>http://eyetap.org/deconism.htm</a> and 
<a href=http://wearcam.org/deconism.htm>http://wearcam.org/deconism.htm</a>

<p>
<h1>DECONcert at Deconism</h1>
<h2>Saturday March 22nd, 7pm</h2>
330 Dundas Street West, located directly across the street from the 
main entrance to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).
<p>
<h2>DECONcert in the Key of EEG: Regenerative Music</h2>
An outgrowth of Toronto cyborg and PhD candidate James Fung's 
research into  biofeedback, DECONcert presents the world's first 
regenerative soundscapes in  which audience members actively 
(and unconsciously) choreograph a collective  cyborg 
consciousness by contributing their own brainwave patterns. The  
resulting atmosphere is an open-ended and participatory 
experience  incorporating leading-edge EEG (brainwave) 
technology.  Regenerative Music places the human being into the 
feedback loop of a computational artistic  process.
<p>
<h2>DECONcert Hertz: Wearable Brain Waves</h2>
The conception of neuroscience researcher-cum-fashion designer 
Ariel Garten,  "DECONcert Hertz" is a play on the popular music 
concert phenomenon, wherein one walks away from the 
performance with a t-shirt of the band. However, in DECONcert, 
the audience is the band so the concertgoer walks away with a print 
of his or her own band width, in Hertz, on an EEG shirt. As our 
recorded brain waves are continually emitted unbeknownst to us, 
they may constitute yet another form of communication or 
surveillance.
<p>
For more information:
<a href=http://eyetap.org/deconism.htm>http://eyetap.org/deconism.htm</a> and 
<a href=http://wearcam.org/deconism.htm>http://wearcam.org/deconism.htm</a>
<p>
Tickets for each of Friday and Saturday evenings are $10, and are 
available at Flavour Hall (500 College St. Toronto 416-839-9943) or 
at the door, first come first served.  Space is limited.

<h1>Ongoing Exhibitions at Deconism Gallery</h1>
<h2>March 22nd - 31st</h2>

<h2>DECONsciousness: Building as Blog</h2>

Ever had cause to wonder what a house or building is thinking?  In 
an age of networked consciousness, that thought is an echo that 
slips frictionlessly past the soapy surface of time's constraints.  
Agile, flexible, and invasively curious, the spaces of this exhibition 
are collaboratively curated and designed by Steve Mann and 
architectural designer Stewart Morgan.

<h2>The History and Future of Wearable Computing</h2>

This exhibit features selected highlights from the invention, 
research, design, and development of the wearable computer.  The 
continuum between seminal art installations and Steve Mann's 
next-generation wearable computing prototypes will be presented in 
a rare public display.  The exhibit condenses thirty years of design 
into an "executive summary" interval of time and space by using 
high-thoughtwidth demonstration media.
<p>
Deconism events are presented in association with the McLuhan 
Program in Culture and Technology, University of Toronto.
<p>
Funding for this event is provided by Thought Technology Ltd.
<p>
Ongoing work is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the 
Ontario Arts  Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.
<p>
Press contacts:
<ul>
<li>Mark Federman - McLuhan Program - 416-978-7026
<li>Ariel Garten - Flavour Hall - 416-839-9943
<li>Steve Mann - Deconism Gallery - 416-946-3387 
</ul>
<hr>
<a href=/ctheory/>CTHEORY article on DECONism</a>
<hr>
<a href=http://interaccess.org/ia.php?pg=prosthetic>Parallel Programs:
Prosthetic Head at Interaccess</a>
<hr>