N° 2380
Throughout the history of cinema, a radical avant-garde has
existed on the fringes of the film industry. A great deal of
research has focused on the pre- and early history of cinema, but
there has been little speculation about a future cinema
incorporating new electronic media. Electronic media have not only
fundamentally transformed cinema but have altered its role as a
witness to reality by rendering "realities" not necessarily linked
to documentation, by engineering environments that incorporate
audiences as participants, and by creating event-worlds that mix
realities and narratives in forms not possible in traditional
cinema. This hybrid cinema melds montage, traditional cinema,
experimental literature, television, video, and the net. The new
cinematic forms suggest that traditional cinema no longer has the
capacity to represent events that are themselves complex
configurations of experience, interpretation, and interaction.
This book, which accompanies an exhibition organized by the ZKM
Institute for Visual Media, explores the history and significance
of pre-cinema and of early experimental cinema, as well as the
development of the unique theaters in which "immersion" evolved.
Drawing on a broad range of scholarship, it examines the shift from
monolithic Hollywood spectacles to works probing the possibilities
of interactive, performative, and net-based cinemas. The
post-cinematic condition, the book shows, has long roots in
artistic practice and influences every channel of communication.
About the Editors
Jeffrey Shaw is Director of the Institute for Visual Media at the
ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe.
Peter Weibel is Director of ZKM | Center for Art and Media
Technology, Karlsruhe, and coeditor of other ZKM books, including
Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy (MIT
Press).
Lawson Park Electronic Library is a Guestroom project for Grizedale Arts, designed and built by Dorian Moore