TAOS, NEW MEXICO, USA

(pop. 4,500; elevation 6,967)


In one of the most dramatic landscapes in the world, Taos is a nature-bound community in a high valley at the edge of a great lava plain at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Situated around an ancient Pueblo, it supports three diverse cultures. One can easily glance backwards here at myths and legends of the Indian/Spanish/ American West.

Taos is also an international tourist destination, a world-class ski resort and one of America's oldest art colonies. Simplicity and sophistication coexist here.

Taos remains a last outpost. Almost remote. The town is still adobe, the countryside still rural. For hundreds of years it has attracted adventurers and artists. And, today, its distance from the anxious post-Modern World gives Taos a powerful mind-clearing quietness.

Taos is an ideal place to think through and explore the ethical/technological issues of entertainment and communication in the New Media Age.