Gene Youngblood 2006: An Interview

In this interview, communications theorist, Gene Youngblood (b. 1942) maps out the various stages of the development of video technology and its philosophical implications for human interaction. The range of topics discussed moves beyond video to offer an extensive and rich survey of American culture from the 1960s to the present moment. In addition to discussing his canonical text, Expanded Cinema, Youngblood shares stories from his early days as a police reporter for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, where he gained intimate knowledge of the media’s politics of representation. With the acuity of hindsight, Youngblood discusses important self-discoveries, and his life-changing decision to move from the mainstream media into the world of the underground press.

For scholars and students of video technology or Chicago history, this interview offers important commentary on the work of Chicago-based artists Philip Morton, Dan Sandin, and Bob Snyder. Youngblood also provides unique perspective on the role of the Chicago art community within the larger history of cinema and video. He suggests that the technology and processing experimentation that was developed in Chicago in the 1970s made the city a significant media capitol of the United States. Youngblood’s unrelenting commitment to the examination of technology and art continues to be an integral force in today’s media discourse.

– Faye Gleisser

Interview conducted by Steve Reinke in November 2006, edited in 2014.