Panoramas / Dioramas / early ‘Time Machine’ ‘Cinema of Attractions’ Early Optical Devices / Pre-sound, ‘Cine-lectures’

immersive environments
These date back to the 18th c. and include new
‘architectures of seeing’ such as Robert Barker’s
Panorama Rotunda at Leicester Square that
opened in May 1793
Hales Tours pre — 1910
Part of the trend for travel films in the early
Twentieth Century, ‘Scenes from around the
World’ were projected onto the ‘window’ of a
mock-up railway carriage that jolted and
bumped as ‘passengers’ travelled the world
without leaving Manchester
Moscow World’s
Fair (1959)
Site for the unveiling of
Charles and Ray Eames’
iconic multi-screen
extravaganza : Glimpses
of the USA
Double-Screen and
Multi-Projection
Arguably a cinematic language in itself — dou-
ble-screen films such as Warhol’s Chelsea Girls
(1966) and Outer and Inner Space (1965) as well
as Malcolm Le Grice’s Castle Two (1968) pose the
audience with the dilemma of simultaneous read-
ings. Multi-projection works such as Paul Sharits’
Razor Blades (1965–68), William Raban’s Wave
Formations (1977) and Guy Sherwin’s Sound
Cuts (2008) employ new forms of filmic rhythm in
order to expand the form and range of cinematic
experience.
Claus Olden-
burg’s Movie-
house (1965)
Audience and actors
change places as Olden-
burg’s ‘happening’ turns the
movie theatre inside out…’
H.G. Wells & Robert Paul’s patent application for Early cinema was a live and unpredictable event  Magic Lanterns / Slide Shows / Tradition of the ‘barker’ who would narrate over
a ‘Time Machine ‘A largely imaginary moment but  — combining performance, projection and Phantasmagoria the top of silent films — often control of the
one that combines, however hypothetically, the exhibition — includes events at the Paris ‘narrative’ belonged to the exhibitor rather than
Extremely popular forms of pre-cinema that
use of multiple projections and simulated move- Biorama ; Lumière’s touring programmes or the filmmaker or distributor.
combine illusion with analysis. What Werner
ment (1895) — an early incantation of ‘virtual ‘Vues’ ; early Twentieth Century institutions of
Nekes calls ‘Media Magica’
reality’? mass culture : Café-concerts, music halls,
vaudeville, fairground theatres and temporary
sites of exhibition. An important moment in
Marcel Duchamp’s Precision
the history of what Jeffrey Shaw calls, ‘specta-
tor-spectacle relations’. Optics (1920)
Paris Exposition 1900 Along with his Anaemic Cinema and Man Ray’s
Rayographs (photographic images made without
National exhibitions have showcased many of
use of a camera) Duchamp’s kinetic sculptures
the technological innovations associated with
anticipate what Ken Jacobs will call ‘para-cinema’
expanded cinema. Here multiple projectors are Surrealism
— a form of cinema made without use of the
used panoramically to simulate hot-air balloon Dada Performance In Las Hurdes (Land Without Bread) made in 1932 traditional media of cinema.
flights
Famously, René Clair produced his film Entr’acte when sound recording was available to filmmak-
(Interval) (1924) to be screened during the break ers, Buñuel delivered a live voiceover at early
between the two acts of Picabia’s Ballet Relâche. screenings in order to create a disjunction not
The film is in many ways site-specific and draws only between sound and image but between the Lettristes and
Bauhaus on early cinema ‘programming’ in order to dis- filmic record and the way in which it is consumed.
rupt the ‘reality’ of the live event. Situationist
Theo Van Doesburg’s ‘dynamic light architecture’
creates an agitated space of moving screens Cinema
in which ‘the spectator space will become part Maurice Lemaître and
of the film space. [And] the separation of the Isadore Isou created their
‘projection surface’ is abolished.’ Moholy-Nagy’s Abel Gance’s Napoleon (1927) own brand of cinema that
Polykino is also an important piece of light- The film’s three-screen climax suggests a cross- emphasised the unpredict-
sculpture that, as with later expanded works, Action Paint- over between avant-garde expanded cinema able and antagonistic in
examines the primary materials of cinema : light, and developments in cinema technologies more film events using disas-
ing / Abstract
movement and time broadly. Expanded sembled narratives, films
Expressionism without images and live
Machines
Malcolm Le Grice and confrontation.
other experimental film- After experimenting with
makers that employ vis- shadow and light in work
German Theatre ceral devices associated
Computer Arts such as, Point Source
Along with Brecht’s alienation effects and Epic with expanded cinema In the 1940s John and James Whitney were early (1973), Tony Hill went on to
Theatre, Walter Gropius & Erwin Piscator’s take their cue as much adopters of computers as a means of making create specially mounted Street Actions
notion of ‘Total Theatre’ — which combines film from post-war concerns film-forms ; the Californian brothers claim to cameras to create films / Projections
projections with live theatre anticipate some of in painting (and music) as inherit the ‘machine as art’ from Duchamp and in which ‘the camera is
Practitioners such as Wolf
expanded cinema’s focus on mediated enactment. they do from cinema Mondrian. fixed relative to its mov-
Vostell, Werner Nekes,
ing subject, resulting in
Robert Whitman and Ken
a reversal of the usual
Brussels World’s Fair (1958) Dewey all took the pro-
relationship between fixed
Expo that witnessed combining of events such as and moving elements in
jected image to the street
the Philips sponsored Corbusier Pavilion, Poem as a means of activating
Better Books a scene’ (Nicky Hamlyn).
Electronique the Czechoslovak Laterna Magica Stan Vander- Ken Jacobs environments beyond the
See also : Robert Breer’s
Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure London cinema.
beek’s Movie Creator of important Mutoscopes (1964) ; Steve
Dome 3-Screen version, Abel Gance & Nelly The basement of Bob Farrer, The Machine
Kaplan showing an updated version of Napoleon Gutai Group Cobbing’s Charing Cross
Drome 1966 ‘para-cinema’ works such
as Nervous System (1975) (1988) ; Tim MacMillan’s
and Magirama (1956) In a dome-shaped con-
(Japan) 3D Rd. bookshop hosted a and Apparition Theatre ‘hoop camera’ UK (1982)
number of early expanded verted grain silo in upstate Widescreen
Influential actionists from (1974)
cinema events such as the New York ‘simultaneous
the 1950s. images of all sorts would
Destruction in Art Sympo-
sium (1966) and showed be projected on the
TECHNICOLOR work by artists such as entire dome-screen… the E.A.T (Experiments in Art
Jeff Keen, Kenneth Anger, audience lies down at the John Cage and Technology)
Yoko Ono and outer edge of the dome An important influence on
New York with their feet towards the
Crossing the boundaries of engineering, art,
Jeffrey Shaw. artists making expanded cinema and performance, practitioners such as
World’s Fair centre, thus almost the cinema such as William Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Whitman and Billy
(1964 
— 6 5) complete field of view is Raban and Paul Sharits Klüver joined forces to produce spectacular
the dome-screen. Thou-
Experimental The infamous IBM Pavilion events such as Nine Evenings of Theatre and
was created here to sands of images would be
dance / projected on this screen…
Engineering New York (1966)
produce an ‘immersive London Film-
Kinesthetic this image-flow [of] visual
nedia environment’ where makers’ Coop
Theatre spectators became part of material is to be presented
the machine and were “led
Hub for many influential and each individual makes Happenings
Associated with Black
experimental artists and his own conclusions… or Viennese Actionists
Mountain College and through American history, Allen Kaprow / Robert
filmmakers from the mid realisations.’ (Vanderbeek, Many moments of crossover between live per-
practitioners such as to the moon and the Milky Whitman / Ken Dewey
1960s to the 1990s many ‘Cultural Intercom’) formance and the filmic (Kurt Kren / Otto Muehl)
Merce Cunningham, Way with 135 screens
of whom employed tech- that influenced a generation of expanded cinema
Yvonne Rainer and the that rose, slid and formed
niques associated with artists including Valie EXPORT, Peter Weibel and
Judson Church Dance tunnels.”
expanded cinema. later Paul McCarthy and Mike Kelley.
Theatre, the sense of the
kinetic and the rhythms
of the body influenced
makers of expanded
cinema such as Carolee
Schneemann.
FILMAKTION Filmaktion Walker Art FLUXUS Performance Art
A loose group of filmmaker’s associated with Gallery, Liverpool 1973 Neo-dada movement that has among its member- With its emphasis on the
the LFMC producing iconic pieces of expanded Following earlier events at Gallery House in ship many of the artists and filmmakers associ- body and a ‘politics of
cinema such as, Horror Film 1 (1970) by Malcolm London (one of the few galleries supportive of ated with expanded cinema. Including Nam June experience’ expanded
Le Grice, 2’45’’ (1973) by William Raban, Aperture film and video artists) this was an important Paik, George Maciunas and Jonas Mekas and cinema is closely linked to
Flicker Films Sweep (1973) by Gill Eatherley and Reel Time event in the history of UK Expanded Cinema Paul Sharits. Particularly influential in its move- the traditions of perform-
Films by Tony Conrad (The Flicker, 1966), Peter (1973) by Annabel Nicolson focusing on the enlivened interest in the ‘real ment away from objecthood toward the ephemera ance art — but its use
Kubelka (Arnulf Rainer, 1960) and Paul Sharits time/space’ of film projection. of performance and gesture. of film and other media
(among others) expand the frequencies of filmic suggests an alternative
relationship to mediums
perception through violent alternating rhythms.
of technological repro-
duction.

Light forms and Projection

Knokke-le Zoute Underground USA
Belgian Festival of ‘Participatory spectacles held at countercultural
experimental film that ran venues and underground film spaces provided
irregularly between 1949 an atmosphere of collective improvisation and
and 1974 and a testing sensorial overload. USCO — early ‘media-art’
ground for many forms collective ; Ben Van Meter uses live film projec-
of expanded cinema. The tions as a way of promoting and constructing
1958 festival moved to sub-cultural identities in San Francisco in the
Brussels to coincide with mid-1960s ; Peter Kubelka designs the ‘Invisible
the World’s Fair Cinema’ at Anthology Film Archives in 1970
Expo ‘67 Montreal
Jeffrey Shaw shows Movie Movie a large-scale
expanded cinema projection performance incorporat-
ing an inflatable and the architecture of the festival
building. Also showing : ‘Kinoautomat’, the world’s first
‘interactive movie’ conceived by Radúz Č in č era for the
Czechoslovak Pavilion.
Video Performance
The work of video performance artists such as Marina
Abramovi č , Vitto Acconci, Dan Graham and Joan Jonas
occupies an important position in the development of
expanded cinema and its concerns with the immediacy
and physicality of mediated environments.
HOUSEWATCH
A collaborative project combining installation,
video, film and the urban environment in order
to create what Tony Sinden has described as
‘cinematic architecture for pedestrians.’
Architecture as Media
With its roots, arguably, in the architectural and
cinematic experiments of the Bauhaus this cat-
egory would include such works as Dan Graham’s
pavilions and works by the UK group House
Watch that challenged the relationship between
social space and media.
Immersive Environments
Works such as Gary Hill’s Tall Ships (1992) : ‘an
entirely silent, sixteen channel video installation
that comes into being through the presence of a
viewer ; it is set up so that whoever walks into the
darkened gallery triggers the projected figures
hovering around the edge of the space to move
towards them.’
Films such as Anthony McCall’s Line Describing
Carolee Schneemann a Cone (1973) and Lis Rhodes’ Light Music (1974) X-Screen Exploding Plastic
Combining live action, multi-media collage examine the space between the projector and Festival Inevitable 1966
and film to create intense film performances ; the screen and the materiality of projected light. (Cologne 1968) Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground join
Schneemann also employed trigger devices in Other experiments with projection and light forces to create Pop Expanded Cinema combin-
An important moment in
the audience to create pseudo-interactive and forms as ‘visionary experience’ include Jordan ing live performance, film projection, music and
the history of expanded
participatory events. Crucial works include Belson’s Vortex Concerts at Morrison Plan- mixed media.
cinema organised in part
Snows (1967), Ghost Rev (1965), Illinois Central etarium in San Francisco ; John Cage and Lejaren
by Wilhelm and Birgit Hein.
(1968) Hiller’s HPSCHD event (1969) ; or the liquid light
shows of Mark Boyle (and Soft Machine) at the
UFO Club in the late 60s
Valie EXPORT
Stereovision Since the late 1960s Export has challenged the
physical realities of moving-image media with
works such as Tapp und Tastkino (1968), Cutting
Film Performance Film Installation Video Art and Installation (1968), Abstract Film (1967/8)
A vital aspect of expanded cinema combining the Forms of gallery-based practice that develop Occupies a crucial position in the history of expanded
technologies of mediation (and absence) associ- in tandem with the experiments of expanded cinema. This is especially true in the UK where artists
such as David Critchley, Tamara Krikorian, Stephen
ated with filmmaking with the physical presence cinema challenging the context and durational
Partridge and David Hall explore the ontology of video
of the body (see also : FILMAKTION) Marilyn quality of film and its relation to the space and
Halford, Hands Knees and Boompsa Daisy (1974) time of reception. E.g. Paul Sharits, Epileptic
technologies in their spatial, temporal and material Peter Weibel
elements. Also points to an important engagement with
Robert Whitman, Shower Piece / Prune Flat (1965), Seizure Comparison (1976) ; Ron Haselden , MFV alternative cultural contexts such as television. Key
Creator of live projection
Tony Conrad, Bowed Film, (1974) Jeff Keen —  Maureen (1975) ; Tony Sinden, Cinema of Projec- early works in the UK include Tony Sinden / David Hall, events including Nivea
combining many different elements, Keen tion (1975) ; Michael Snow, Two Sides to Every 101 TV Sets (1975) ; David Hall, Progressive Recession (1968) and Action Lecture
created a feverish and unpredictable form of film Story (1974) ; David Dye, Unsigning for Eight (1975) and David Critchley, Trialogue (1977) (1968)
performance in which the 8mm camera acts as a Projectors (1972)
pen and the projector as a gun. Keen created the
ongoing Theatre of Dr Gaz, which incorporated
live 8mm and 16mm multiple projections, blow-
torches and paint, Birgit & Wilhelm Hein, Film und Festival of Expanded Cinema, Television Interruptions
Live Show (1979–81) — Superman und Wonder-
ICA Jan. 1976 Conceptual Art &
woman / From Here to Eternity (1979), Guy David Hall, 7 TV Pieces (1971) ­— Unannounced
Important event that positioned UK expanded
Site Specificity
Sherwin, Man with Mirror (1975–2008), Ian and un-credited, Hall’s seven works interrupted
Breakwell/Mike Leggett, Unword (1970–2003) cinema at the forefront ‘of structural researches BBC 2’s Scottish broadcast as part of the Edin- Robert Smithson proposed building a cinema in
into process art’ (Jonas Mekas) moving away burgh Festival of that year. WGBH-TV in Boston a mine and projecting a film of the mine being
from the psychedelic turn in US expanded cinema collaborated with video artists to produce early excavated ; Morgan Fisher’s Screening Room
toward an ‘emphasis on either the physical, forms of TV art in the US at the end of the 1960s. (start date : 1968) is a film made in the space in
spatial or temporal aspects [of cinema]… to Gerry Schum created unannounced and un- which it’s projected ; Richard Long produced
‘Intermedia’ facilitate a perceptual shift’ (Deke Dusinberre). credited broadcasts in Germany such as Land Art instructions for Walking a Straight 10 Mile Line
Master minded by Dick Includes work by artists such as Jeff Keen, Rob (1969). Joseph Beuys, Douglas Davies and Nam Forward and Back Shooting Every Half-Mile
Higgins in New York during Gawthrop, Nicky Hamlyn, Lis Rhodes, Ian Kerr, June Paik produced the Documenta 6 Satellite (Dartmoor 1969) ­— and shot it.
the late 1960s combining Ian Breakwell, Marilyn Halford, Annabel Nicolson Telecast (1977) broadcasting live performances
light shows, projections and and Chris Welsby around the globe including Beuys’ direct address
live performance
to the public, elaborating on his utopian theories
of art as ‘social sculpture’.
Surveillance Technologies
Marcel Broodthaers
Post-punk (US)
Section du Cinema (1971 – 7 2) (symptomatic
Practitioners such as Mike of what Rosalind Krauss has called the ‘post- The Video Show, Serpentine
Kelley, Paul McCarthy, medium condition’) museum, gallery and Gallery (summer) 1975
Video Walls Tony Oursler and Laurie cinema merge as a site of cultural and aesthetic
Anderson adopt many Artists using closed circuit installations, per-
archaeology
aspects of expanded formances, multiple screens, video monitors
and video graphics continue expanded cinema’s Punk & Super 8 movement
cinema as part of a
language of performance attack on the forces of television and other forms In the UK, Derek Jarman experimented with the
of media culture immediacy and lyricism of Super 8. In Spain,
and video drawing on
Pedro Almodóvar created Super 8 performances
post-modern and popular ‘Cinema of Exhibitions’ in night clubs in the wake of Franco’s death
culture as well as
A shift to using the gallery as a context for, on
Modernist discourses
the one hand, deconstructing the identity proc-
ess inscribed in iconic works of classical cinema, Scratch Performance
and on the other, of exhibiting the processes of
Early to mid 1980s scratch video performances in
film production as a form of media displacement. International Symposium
Interactive Associated with artists such as David Lamelas,
UK nightclubs. Scratch artists such as the Duvet
Brothers and Gorilla Tapes combine state-of-the- of Shadows (1996)
US artists Graham Weinbren and Roberta Fried- Stan Douglas, Douglas Gordon and Pierre Hughe.
art video editing techniques with a subversive Returning to first principles, a loose group of
man pioneered CD-Rom and video-disc-based
sense of détournement ‘shadow engineers’ reconsider the darker and
interactive filmmaking in the 1980s and 1990s in
which viewers are able to influence the narrative more primitive areas of projection, including
developments of intricate cinematic fictions. Thomas Bartels Projecting Sculpture, Joost
Creative Projection & Rekveld’s Installation 13 and the shadow per-
formances of Loophole cinema.
‘Film Alchemy’ Multi-Screen Environments
Contemporary artists from around the world and Installation
(such as Jurgen Reble, Bruce McClure, Luis
ZKM Future Cinema Recoder and Emma Hart) who work directly with E.g. Jane & Louise Wilson, Gamma (1999), A Free

Virtual Reality A ‘Media Museum’ and ‘Institute for Visual the material of film and the mechanics of projec- and Anonymous Monument (2003) Mirza & Butler
Media’ set up in Germany by Jeffrey Shaw and tion in order to create frenetic actions — proving Using multiple screens, double projections and
“the most recent phase in the expression of the Peter Weibel, two prominent figures in the that films are not so much produced as they are site-specific ‘resonances’ Karen Mirza and Brad
Pygmalion syndrome” — Malcolm Le Grice history of expanded cinema, that champions projected. Butler continue expanded cinema’s exploration of
‘artistic, social and technological research into the relationship between film, social context and
new forms of interactive digital media with an Contemporary Festivals /
personal experience
emphasis on the expansion of cinematic codes Groups
IMAX and techniques.’
Media Art Kill Your Timid Notion (UK)
‘Information Architecture’ La Cellule d’Intervention METAMKINE (France)
Increasingly sophisticated forms of display and
multi-channel screens seamlessly adorn facades
internally and externally where building, image Television Satellite / Cable VJ Events and ‘Real Time
and built surface blur into one another. Communication technologies Visual Performance’ Internet Art