Rejane Spitz (Brazil) b 1956

Brazilian artist Rejane Spitz has been working with computers in the arts since 1983. She was as a Computer Graphics animator at Pullman Video & Graphics (1983-84, UK) and at TV Globo (1984-85, Brazil). In 1985 she was invited to organize and teach Computer Graphics as part of their Art & Design curricula at PUC-Rio. In 1991 she founded the Electronic Arts Unit (Nucleo de Arte Eletr�nica/PUC-Rio) - an experimental arts laboratory where educators and students from science and arts disciplines come together to discuss the real challenges of the digital society, and to create and produce innovative Art & Design projects.

Rejane has been working as curator of several exhibitions on Virtual Reality and Electronic Art in Brazil, and has written extensively on social/cultural issues related to the role of electronic artists in developing nations. She has been awarded the Golden and Platinum Records from WEA Music for the creation of the interactive track of the CD ALBUM (for the Bar�o Vermelho rock band), and among her main works are: the Ecumenical Digital Bible CD-ROM for Loyola Publishers; the Brazilian Beats: Expressive Culture and Arts in Contemporary Brazil CD-ROM, in collaboration with the University of Florida; and the website Private Domain: please, keep off!, which was presented as part of The Homestead web exhibition, curated by Paul Hertz (Chicago, USA).

Her research project Internet, illiteracy and social exclusion which has recently been awarded Rio de Janeiro's Cientistas do Nosso Estado (Scientists of our State) grant - has originated her current work Netizens, net-fringers and outsiders. It shows how people living in dramatically different socio-economic circumstances perceive and understand the Internet, how it affects their lives, and its implications for their future. Her aim is to discuss the diversity of existent opinions - how the haves and have-nots understand the connected society and the dangers and prospects of the Internet boom. Those who visit the site will be encouraged, in a very dynamic and intriguing way, to give their opinions and to add their images to the project's data bank, so that they themselves become part of the work too. The site is a space where every person counts, and has a chance to speak. No matter who they are. Just the way Rejane hopes the Internet itself will be, one day.

Spitz webpage http://nae.art.puc-rio.br

Spitz essay Qualitative, Dialectical and Experiential Domains of Electronic Art

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