Thursday, December 11th 2003, 7-10.30pm

The Dana Centre, 165 Queen's Gate, South Kensington, London SW7 5HE <www.danacentre.org.uk>

This event is free but places must be booked by calling 020 7942 4040 or by emailing: tickets@danacentre.org.uk

Nearest tube is South Kensington

IF THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE, is it online? Are conspiracy theories just 'open-source' story telling or do they serve to obscure serious debate about the power structures of our world? Are we becoming a generation of conspiracy theory consumers? Is the Internet itself set to become the plaything of hidden agencies?

On 11 December, at the Dana Centre - London's newest venue tackling contemporary and controversial science head on – Cybersalon www.cybersalon.org sifts fact from fiction and calls online conspirators worldwide to account.

Using their trademark discussion/club format, enhanced by the Dana Centre's state of the art technological resources, the maverick digital collective assembles a panel of experts to present an engaging and thought-provoking investigation in the why, what and how of conspiracy culture.

The evening's panel includes the enfant terrible of 9-11 investigative journalism Thierry Meyssen, New York cyber theorist Douglas Rushkoff, conspiracy academic Alasdair Spark, artist and crop circle maker Rod Dickinson and online commentator Sandy Starr. Cybersalon also add their own off-centre perspectives into the mix - including iConspire - their online conspiracy generator, a gravity defying audiovisual set from ‘The First VJ on the Moon’, and an automated web ‘detour’ of conspiracy themed sites.

“Conspiracy theory has really captured the public imagination”, said Lisa Jamieson, Dana Centre Program Co-ordinator, “New technology has enabled theories to spread fast and wide, and with the Dana Centre’s state of the art technology what better place to explore this issue?”

Complete with a wired café-bar connecting it to people all around the world, the Dana Centre brings exciting, informative and lively discussion to people who want to talk about challenging and cutting edge topics in science, the arts and culture. The evening will be web cast live from the Dana Centre, enabling a worldwide audience to engage and interact with the event.