Internationally known digital media artist Alan Sondheim will offer two public lectures July 13 and Aug. 3 at West Virginia University.

The Department of English, Center for Literary Computing and Department of Computer Science are hosting the talks set to begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Mountainlair Rhododendron Room

During the first lecture, Sondheim will offer an introduction to his work, which emphasizes writing, theory and digital performance. During the second presentation, he will showcase some of the results of his WVU residency.

He will offer give a performance incorporatingwork from his residency.”SKIN”will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 27, in Bloch Hall of the Creative Arts Center.

Sondheim is one of the worlds leading artists focusing on Internet and digital technologies. His residency at WVU is a collaboration between the Center for Literary Computing and the Virtual Environments Laboratory. It has led to various publications, videos, performances and a gallery installation at the CAC s Mesaros Galleries.

He continues to present his research and materialsincluding four performances at the Millennium Film and Video in New York City, a major show in Los Angeles and a solo show at Track 16 Gallery.

He has also been invited to give performances and lectures at Miami University in Ohio; the Society for Literature, Science and the Arts Convention in Chicago; Brown University; Sarah Lawrence College; and Tyler School for the Arts.

This past spring, Sondheim lent unique images and sound from his WVU work to a dance number calledIncidences,a collaboration with a Geneva, Switzerland-based dance company. The dance is being presented in Europe.

This summer, he continues research on a project with the working title,Digilife: The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Virtual Life.He is also working with Swiss dancer and choreographer Foofwa dImobilite on new work, which will soon premiere in Switzerland and Italy.

Sondheims books include the anthology,Being on Line: Net Subjectivity.His video and films have been widely exhibited, and he helps moderate several pioneering e-mail lists, includingCybermind,CybercultureandWryting.

Also noteworthy are his work on Internet text; a meditation on philosophy, psychology, language, body and virtuality; and a special issue of the America Book Review on codework.

Other career highlights include being named the second virtual writer-in-residence for the Trace online writing community in 1999 and a resident of the Center for Literary Computing and the Virtual Environments Laboratory at WVU in 2004.

Last year, he was resident artist/writer at Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, Calif., where he produced two compact discs.

Sondheim lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.