16mm

James Whitney’s cybernetic art seems totally removed from the idyllic scene in the serene Southern California garden where he has developed ceramic handicraft to a fine art in days of quiet meditation. […] Like the work of his long-time friend, Jordan Belson, it represents expanded cinema in its widest meaning: an attempt to approximate mind forms. That Whitney claims to have failed in his quest does not subtract from the archetypical eloquence of his works. (Gene Youngblood, Expanded Cinema)

[…] Lapis was near the end of what I could do. The machine restricted me; my fantasies couldn’t flow. Of course we’re in the most primitive stages of cybernetic art, but my inner imagery gave way at the same time that my outer ability to control the instrument broke down. (James Whitney, quoted in Expanded Cinema)

• Sektion Section: Film
• Programm Programme: Expanded Cinema: A Tribute to Gene Youngblood’s Book 1