Electronic Culture: History, Theory, and Practice: Future Cinema

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Throughout cinema's history, a radical avant-garde has existed on the fringes of the film industry. While much research has focused on the pre- and early history of cinema, speculation about a future cinema incorporating new electronic media has been limited. Electronic media have fundamentally transformed cinema, altering its role as a witness to reality by creating "realities" not necessarily tied to documentation, engineering environments that engage audiences as participants, and blending realities and narratives in ways traditional cinema cannot. This hybrid cinema combines montage, traditional cinema, experimental literature, television, video, and the internet. The emergence of these new cinematic forms indicates that traditional cinema struggles to represent events that are complex configurations of experience, interpretation, and interaction. This book, accompanying an exhibition by the ZKM Institute for Visual Media, delves into the history and significance of pre-cinema and early experimental cinema, as well as the unique theaters that fostered "immersion." Drawing on diverse scholarship, it explores the transition from monolithic Hollywood spectacles to works that investigate interactive, performative, and net-based cinemas. The post-cinematic condition, as discussed, has deep roots in artistic practice and impacts every communication channel.