Experiment, Cybernetics and the Formal Film in Britain

Reynolds, L. 2023. Experiment, Cybernetics and the Formal Film in Britain. in: Windhausen, F. (ed.) A Companion to Experimental Cinema Hoboken NJ Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 260-283

Chapter titleExperiment, Cybernetics and the Formal Film in Britain
AuthorsReynolds, L.
EditorsWindhausen, F.
Abstract

This essay reconsiders the foundational contexts attributed to the experimental film form, which developed in London in the 1960s and 1970s. It makes the case that the distinctive emphasis on materiality and process for which British alternative film of the period is best known is rooted in discourses of science and cybernetics as well as art. With reference to a number of well-canonized filmmakers of the period, my essay examines how the influence of new theories of art and science upon Britain's cultural environment in the 1960s, and the pedagogical approaches developed from them, can be identified in a number of key, and often overlooked, works of British experimental film of the 1960s and 1970s.

Keywordsformal film
cybernetics
science
computers
enquiry
Malcolm le Grice
Ian Breakwell
pedagogy
modernism
game play
Book titleA Companion to Experimental Cinema
Page range260-283
Year2023
PublisherWiley-Blackwell
Publication dates
Published19 Aug 2022
Published in print2023
Place of publicationHoboken NJ
Edition1st
ISBN9781119107903
9781119107934
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119107934

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