Expanded Cinema Archive Main Menu "The nervous system of mankind." Gene Youngblood Perception & Consciousness Cybernetics Art and Technology In practice Other archvies

Overview; "When we say expanded cinema we actually mean expanded consciousness."

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The book's introduction is written by Buckminster Fuller, an architect and important figure within the field of cybernetics. In the intro, Fuller surveys the relationship between human beings and the Universe, using metaphors from biology and obstetrics (describing the evolution of human beings as occurring within the "womb" of the Earth), and automation (calling the Universe "a self-regenerating and transforming machine" (22)). Humans have evolved to act with more control of the physical environment, and to externalize their thoughts and innovations through industry and artifacts. They have even now (writing in 1970) gone off of the planet itself. 

Fuller defines the modern moment as one in which humans are only just becoming aware of the metaphysical forces, the "complex of frequencies," and that which exist all around and through them (26). New scientific discoveries are recognizing and rejecting the compartmentalization of time, space, and experience. "There is no static geometry of omni-interrelationship of Universe events," he writes. "Some of the stars you are looking at have not been there for a million years... Science has found no 'things'; only events." (23, 24). It is only within the human brain that this series of frequencies and events can be processed; Fuller likens the brain to a kind of control room, a "trans-receiving studio-station" on intake and interpretation. Fuller's historical narrative is one of progressive evolution of consciousness among the human species; each generation expands our collective understanding, "which is confronted with less misinformation than yesterday" (31). 

So how does this relate to cinema? Fuller argues that Youngblood's text provides a model for educate and improve collective understanding on a global scale (34). He argues that Expanded Cinema is a project of "synchorniz[ing] the senses" of all mankind. 


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In the Preface, Youngblood lays out his purpose for writing the text: "It is the primary purpose of this book to explore the new messages that exist in the cinema, and to examine some of the image-making technologies that promise to extend man's communicative capacities beyond his most extravagant visions" (41). 

The book is then organized around seven sections, each of which highlights the limits of current filmic languages, the capacities of Expanded Cinema projects, and various exemplars of Youngblood's typology. 



 

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  1. "The nervous system of mankind." Katie Bruner