Gregory Steel, First Year Graduate Student at the University of Michigan, and Cybernet Systems Corporation display a mix of Art, Medical Science and Technology

Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 11, 2000- For his first year of Graduate research Gregory Steel will be exhibiting a work entitled "Digital Immortality". The showcase of work is the artist's life signs being monitored remotely and broadcast onto the Internet. The technology for Internet-based life signs monitoring is provided by Cybernet Systems Corporation of Ann Arbor (http://www.cybernet.com). 

This is new technology and it will be one of the first times this type of Web-based monitoring is attempted. The project highlights not only new technology but references our attachment to the Internet, the questions of privacy, and reaching out beyond our physical self. This work responds to and questions the idea of digital immortality.The artist is a cancer survivor and much of this work addresses the condition of the chronically ill. In addition, the installation includes several videos and associated pieces. The work combines aspects of Video Installation and Performance with a conceptual edge. This work is part of the larger "Hydra" show that highlights works by the First Year Graduate Students. The show will take place on the center campus of the University of Michigan in the John Paul Slusser Galley, the Warren M. Robbins Center Gallery and The Video Studio in the Media Union.