A History of Video Art is a critical introduction and guide to artists' video. It covers the period from the early 1960s - when video art first appeared as a distinctive medium - into the 1990s - when digital technology merged video's distinctive practice with that of independent film-making and photography.This artistic history is also a technological and a cultural history. A History of Video Art also sets its analysis of artistic practice firmly within the context of both the development of electronic imaging technology and the changing political and social climate.Richly illustrated, the book is essential reading for anyone interested in art history and contemporary art practice.ContentsPART 1. THE ORIGINS OF VIDEO ART: THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT.1. In The Beginning: The Origins of Video Art.2. Crossing Boundaries: International Tendencies and Influences in Early Artists' Video.3. Technology, Access and Context: Social and Political Activists and Their Role in the Development of Video Art.4. Expanded Cinema: The Influence and Relationship of Experimental, Avant-Garde and "Underground" Film.5. Musique Concrete, Fluxus and Tape Loops: The Influence of Sound Recording and Experimental Music.6. Theory and Practice: The Impact of Theoretical ideas on Early Technology Based Practice.7. Beyond the Lens: Abstract Video Imagery and Image Processing.PART 2: SOME REPRESENTATIVE AND INFLUENTIAL VIDEO ART WORKS AND THEIR TECHNOLOGICAL AND CRITICAL CONTEXT.8. In and Out of the Studio: The Advent of Inexpensive Non-Broadcast Video.9. Cutting It: Accessible Video Editing.10. Mixing it: Electronic/Digital Image Manipulation.11. The Gallery Opens its Doors: Video Installation and Projection.PART 3: THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARTISTS' VIDEO AND INSTALLATION IN RESPONSE TO TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND ACCESSIBILITY12. Fields, Lines & Frames: Video as an Electronic Medium.13. The Means of Production: Feminism, Race, Gender, Technology and Access.14. Off the Wall: Video Sculpture and Installation.15. Going Digital: The Emergence of Digital Video Processing and Effects.16. The End of Video Art?PART 4. REFERENCES