A very relevant article in the last issue of IEEE Multimedia is entitled "Digital Culture, Art, and Technology" by Andreas Broeckmann, the Transmediale art director. Very close to regine's point (as she presented in various places like reboot) which was "Why executives should go to media art festivals". In this article, Broeckmann tackles this very issue:

how the artistic work that engages technological developments has moved from the margins of society to being intricately linked with systems and themes that are economically, politically, and socially important. Multimedia itself has seen a similar shift (from specialized to general users), but is the way multimedia technology is being developed tightly linked to social and cultural issues? Or are technical researchers and developers still working at the margins of society?

Why do I blog this? I am also a proponent of this approach and it's interesting to see that more and more voices are supporting it.