Yeah you're totally right tocsin. I was part of the demo scene about 10 years ago (programming and art). This was when being a nerd was a bad thing, and thus not having your art recognised as art. Head on over to some of the demo scene dump sites (haven't been there in years, so I can't tell you any offhand) and look for stuff by the Future Crew. Just appreciate that most of the code there was written to run on 386s, Amigas or Atari STs, not the latest processors with NO graphics acceleration or even drivers! Just native raw ASM. It's interesting that some of the most tallented game engine programmers out there have origionated from this online community (most notably the guys from Epic Megagames - some of the old Future Crew and later authors of the Unreal series).

I'm considering putting on a mulitmedia exhibtion in an art gallery or museam one day when I have the cash to try and get some exposure and recognition for this incredibly inventive underground art form.