Expanded Cinema

More about the book

First published in 1970, Gene Youngblood's influential work was the first serious examination of video, computers, and holography as cinematic technologies. Long regarded as essential for media artists, Youngblood's insider perspective on 1960s counterculture and the emergence of cybernetics remains a vital reference in today's digital landscape. This fiftieth anniversary edition features a new Introduction by the author, providing conceptual tools for understanding contemporary sociocultural and sociopolitical realities. As a unique eyewitness account of experimental film and video art's inception in the late 1960s, this extensive study traces the evolution of cinematic language, challenging the conventions of fiction, drama, and realism. Its far-reaching insights include terms like "the paleocybernetic age," "intermedia," and "the technosphere: man/machine symbiosis." The book meticulously analyzes significant works and production methods, featuring interviews with key artists and technologists of the era, such as Nam June Paik and Andy Warhol. An inspiring Introduction by R. Buckminster Fuller contextualizes Youngblood's radical observations. Offering unparalleled historical documentation, this work clarifies a crucial chapter of countercultural history that remains underrepresented in art history, inspiring a new generation of artists exploring the evolving cinematic environment and the technologies reshaping human communi