Expanded Cinema: From Gene Youngblood to Contemporary Art

The concept of expanded cinema, coined by Gene Youngblood in 1970, describes how visual art incorporates moving images. This summer, several exhibitions highlighted the practice: Isaac Julien at Palazzo Te in Mantua uses ten screens in a mirrored room; Alejandro G. Iñárritu at Fondazione Prada in Milan shows unused film footage; Gerhard Richter's digital abstractions were shown at Fondation Beyeler; and David Hockney's multi-screen seasonal compositions were at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. Expanded cinema differs from traditional narrative film, often lacking a script and prioritizing perception and composition over storytelling. Its roots trace back to 1924 with Francis Picabia and René Clair's 'Entr'acte', and later experiments by László Moholy-Nagy (1925), Oskar Fischinger and Abel Gance (1927). Neo-avant-garde works like Andy Warhol's 'Chelsea Girls' (1966) and performances by Yoko Ono and Carolee Schneemann (1964) further developed the form. Today, artists like Adelisa Selimbašić create paintings from video stills, while Valentina Furian and Emilio Vavarella work at the intersection of experimental and mainstream cinema. The practice reflects a 'liquid' world, as described by Zygmunt Bauman.