Artists who think, however, they are in the vanguard because they work will computers may soon find themselves in the backguard. Below I list some areas of scientific inquiry and technological development that I believe may have cultural impact and will be fruitful areas for artistic inquiry. The Integration of Research and Art Research is shaping the future in profound ways beyond the utilitarian confines of the technology produced. Our culture desperately needs wide involvement in the definition of research agendas, the actual investigation processes, and in the exploration of the implications of what is discovered. The appropriate contours of this involvement are not yet defined.
Much experimentation is required.
How can artists learn to involve themselves in the ways and byways of researchers without losing touch with their artistic roots. If they did, they would be unlikely to make any unique contribution. It would work like art always does - provoking and moving audiences through its communicative power and unique perspectives. Still it might simultaneously work as research - using systematic investigative processes to develop new technological possibilities or to discover useful new knowledge or perspectives. Signs of this happening already appear.