Video has grown to assume a central role in the visual arts, with video installation being the most prominent form. But the moving image in contemporary art should not be understood as a single form of expression: today the moving image encompasses a wide range of practices—including video, installation, film, Internet art, and so on—each of which must be described and understood in its own terms.

This anthology addresses this plurality by including texts by film theorists such as Raymond Bellour and Annika Wik, alongside contributions by internationally established art critics and curators such as Saul Anton, Stéphanie Moisdon Trembley, and Jean-Christophe Royoux. In addition, Black Box Illuminated examines the ways in which the Nordic art scene has been a productive place during the past decade for artists working with moving images. The publication includes interviews with Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Eva Koch, and Liisa Roberts, three artists whose work has been formative for the understanding of narrative in relation to the viewer, space, and the moving image.

Other artists discussed in the anthology include Doug Aitken, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Douglas Gordon, Mark Lewis, Shirin Neshat, Philippe Parreno, Pipilotti Rist, and Sam Taylor-Wood.

Published by the NIFCA (Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art), with IASPIS (International Artists’ Studio Program in Sweden), and Propexus.

Of related interest: 10th Biennial of Moving Images (Catalogues & Biennales, 2003)