The Art and Science of Interstellar Message Composition:

Framing interstellar messages as art projects is a recent development. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intellligence, or SETI, has been conducted by scientists and engineers, with minimal input from the artistic community. With advances in search technology, the chances of detecting extraterrestrial intelligence are improving rapidly (see Werthimer and Morris’s abstract below). In recognition of these increasing prospects of success, the SETI Institute and Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (ISAST) have initiated a series of workshops to encourage discussion between artists, scientists, and technologists about interstellar message composition. In the event of a signal detection, this advance preparation will be especially useful as humankind decides whether to reply, and if so, what to say. This special section of Leonardo includes abstracts of six of the eighteen presentations given at the first workshop devoted specifically to the interface of art, science, and technology in interstellar message design, held in Paris on March 18, 2002.