New York, February, 2002 - A groundbreaking exhibition of international digital art - the first to showcase historic and contemporary benchmark works selected by a team of leading digital media curators from museums around the world - is being organized by the New York Digital Salon for a premiere in New York that will launch a two-year national and international tour commemorating the Salon's tenth anniversary.

In conjunction with the exhibition opening in New York, the New York Digital Salon will be organizing and hosting a two-day symposium featuring panel discussions, lectures, webcasts, master class workshops, music performances, and artist studio tours.

Curators for the exhibition have been selected from major cultural institutions highly regarded for their own pioneering initiatives showcasing digital art. Initial guest curators include:

• Joel Chadabe, President, Electronic Music Foundation, New York
• Jon Ippolito, Curator, New Media Arts, Guggenheim Museum, New York
• Dorine Mignot, Curator New Media Arts, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
• Gregor Muir, Kramlich Curator of Contemporary Art, Tate, London
• Christiane Paul, Adjunct Curator, New Media Arts, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe Germany
• Lev Manovich, author, professor, University of California, San Diego

The Director of the New York Digital Salon is Bruce Wands, who has been guiding the annual exhibition since its inception. Wands is Chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA Department of Computer Art and Director of Computer Education.

In addition to the curators, the New York Digital Salon is establishing an Advisory Council of respected international artists, curators, museum and cultural officials, scholars, authors, critics, philosophers, scientists and corporate executives. The formation of the Council and its membership will be announced in March.

During its ten-year history in the forefront of digital art, the New York Digital Salon, founded in 1993 has been dedicated to the exhibition, study and promotion of digital art in all its genres. Increasingly recognized as a significant force for digital art, the Salon hosts an annual exhibition, educational and public programs, and provides a Web site (NYDigitalSalon.org), Webcasts and a catalogue accompanying the exhibition.

The New York Digital Salon grew out of the pioneering commitment to computer creativity at the School of Visual Arts in New York. In 1982, eleven before the first Salon, SVA founder Silas Rhodes and president David Rhodes supported a group of forward-thinking educators and artists in the establishment of one of the first academic programs to teach digital art, resulting in the first MFA program in Computer Art in the United States in 1987. In 1993, they prompted the establishment of one of the earliest exhibitions of digital art in the first New York Digital Salon.

"The New York Digital Salon recognizes the importance of providing a forum for creativity, innovation and the art of our time,lt said Salon Director Bruce Wands. iaThe New York Digital Salon believes that international dialogue and partnerships in the arts are a unifying force for cultural exchange."