The eyes have it this month as Cornell University hosts a month-long, cutting-edge exhibition of international CD-ROM art projects at electronic sites around campus, in conjunction with a two-day public workshop on the digital arts.

The workshop, titled "Artistic Discourses of Digitality," begins Friday, March 12, at 12:45 p.m. in the A.D. White House on campus, with introductory remarks by Timothy Murray, acting director of the Society for the Humanities and director of graduate studies in film and video.

The workshop leads into the premiere of "Contact Zones: The Art of CD-ROM," in Uris Hall G28, Saturday, March 13, from 3 to 5 p.m., followed by a roundtable discussion and reception.

"Contact Zones: The Art of CD-ROM" will be on display from March 9 through April 16, with iMac computers up and running at a variety of campus locations, including the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, the A.D. White House and the following Cornell libraries: Olin, Uris, Carpenter and Mann. The exhibit is part of a joint effort, co-sponsored by the Society for the Humanities, Cornell Information Technologies (CIT), Cornell Library and the Johnson Museum. The iMac computers will be provided through Apple Computer, Inc., the Campus Store and CIT.

The workshop, free and open to the public, brings together a wide range of international artists, critics and curators to discuss the innovative artistic and theoretical work created through digital mediums. Featured speakers are Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, Reginald Woolery and Marie-Laure Ryan, fellows in residence at the Society for the Humanities; Natalie Jeremijenko of Yale University; Margaret Corbit, Cornell Theory Center; Leah Gilliam, Bard College; Zoe Beloff, City College of New York; Patricia Zimmermann, Ithaca College; Keith Brown, Manchester Metropolitan University; Brian Goldfarb, University of Rochester; and Marcia Lyons, Cornell art department. For a complete list of talks, titles, times and locations, see the attached calendar.

"Contact Zones" explores the artistic, theoretical and interdisciplinary possibilities of CD-ROM and digital technologies in the arts, and it features work by well-known and emergent CD-ROM artists from Australia, Canada, Germany, France, the United States, England, Brazil, Holland, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Japan, Mexico and Spain, as well as work created by Cornell faculty and fellows at the Society for the Humanities.

Murray, professor of English and curator for the unprecedented Cornell exhibit, explains the concept behind "Contact Zones": "First, it's meant to suggest how digital art can serve to create 'contact zones' between different campus disciplines -- from art to literature to media studies to computer science to architecture -- and venues -- from the art museum to the library -- that share common interests in the development of and critical reflection on digital visualization. Second, the show will investigate various zones of conceptual contact opened up by artists working in the new media. My hope is that the show will provide new zones of interpersonal contact for groups of users who wouldn't ordinarily understand themselves to share common space."

More than 75 CD-ROM works were submitted for exhibition, Murray said.

"There have been very few international exhibitions of work solely created on and/or for CD-ROM, and this show already has Cornell positioned as a major player in the field of digital arts and visual studies."

Co-sponsors for the two events include the Society for the Humanities, CIT, the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, the Einaudi Center Dissertation Workshop on Comparative Visualities, the Graduate Program in Film and Video Studies and the departments of History of Art, Science and Technology Studies and Theatre, Film and Dance, and the Johnson Museum.

A schedule of events is listed below. For further information, call the Society for the Humanities at (607) 255-4086, or e-mail mea4@cornell.edu.

Friday, March 12

A.D. White House:

• 12:45 p.m., Introduction, Timothy Murray, acting director, Society for the Humanities, Cornell.
• 1 p.m., "Virtual Worlds: Literal vs. Fantastic," Margaret Corbit, Cornell Theory Center.
• 1:45 p.m., "Transnational Digital Imaginaries," Patricia Zimmermann, Ithaca College.

Kaufmann Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall

• 3 p.m., "Cinema Incognito," Zoe Beloff, the City College of New York.
• 3:45 p.m., "Ape/s and Essence," Leah Gilliam, Bard College.
• 4:30 p.m., "The Digital Eye," Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, Concordia University and co-editors of CTHEORY.

Saturday, March 13

Kaufmann Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall

• 9:30 a.m., "N2black, A Series of Seeded Bodies," Marcia Lyons, Cornell.
• 10:15 a.m., "Between the Digital Sheets: Immaculate Conceptions," Keith Brown, Manchester Metropolitan University.
• 11:45 a.m., "Desire and Otherness," Reginald Woolery, Fellow, Society for the Humanities, Cornell.
• 1:30 p.m., "Ocular Convergence," Brian Goldfarb, University of Rochester.
• 2:15 p.m., "Between the Digital and the Tangible: Projects, Technologies and Information Products," Natalie Jeremijenko, Yale University.
• Uris Hall G28:
• 3-5 p.m. Premiere of "Contact Zones: The Art ofCD-ROM," an international exhibition curated by Murray.

A.D. White House, Guerlac Room:

• 5 p.m., The Theoretical Interface of Digitality: Round Table Discussion with Arthur Kroker, Marie-Laure Ryan, Reginald Woolery, Patricia Zimmermann and John Zissovici.
• 6:15 p.m., Reception.

Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide additional information on this news release. Some might not be part of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over their content or availability. Contact Zones exhibition website: http://contactzones.cit.cornell.edu.