Jihoon Kim Revisits Stan Douglas's 'Cinema of Operations' in Afterall Journal

In an essay for Afterall Journal 53, Jihoon Kim analyzes Stan Douglas's film and video installations from the 1990s and 2000s, coining the term 'cinema of operations' to describe works that foreground their technological systems. Kim argues that Douglas's 'recombinant' pieces, such as Der Sandmann (1995) and Inconsolable Memories (2005), use custom projection setups and algorithmic playback to destabilize cinematic narrative. These works prefigure post-cinematic practices by merging mechanical and digital operations, drawing on expanded cinema traditions and Harun Farocki's concept of the 'operational image.' The essay positions Douglas's practice as a critique of mainstream interactive storytelling, exemplified by Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, by emphasizing contingency and partial perspectives over user control.