A CLOSER LOOK 2005 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of NAMAC as a national organization serving independent media.We invited seven authors to look back at some of the hidden histories of the field: from underrecognized artists, collaborations and collectives, to organizations and intentional media communities.These creative clusters, found throughout the country, have embodied the dynamic spirit and vision of this media movement that continues to gain energy from  and exists in key dialogue with  issues of identity and race, marks of regionality, processes of tool and technology exploration, and the artifacts of mediated communication scattered throughout the environments we inhabit.The anthology opens up a field of inquiry for a new generation that may know very little about the artists, the organizations, or the times in which the media arts, as a self-described field, began developing and growing in cultural influence. Delving into perspectives about these subjects that only the long view backward can offer, the authors map a wide range of activities from a twenty-first century point of view, and look at how these transmissions from the past remain more than relevant today as our media environments change at warp speed. What are the lineages and patterns of practice that, when reexamined, have fresh significance for the concerns facing artists and organizations? These histories are strong reminders that uncertainty, playfulness and openness to unpredictability are part of the effort of making media. The driving forces surrounding the subjects that these authors explore may have changed over the years, but the questions they amplify re-emerge in new ways as creative generations overlap and eventually succeed one another.

Introductions by Helen De Michiel and Kathy High. 97 pages. $19.95.

Essays by:

Patricia R. Zimmermann LIVE! Reconnecting the Histories of Live Multimedia Performance

Scott McDonald Film History and Film History

Mary M. Lampe SWAMP Roots

Melinda Stone, in conversation with Andrew Lampert and Rick Prelinger Secrets in the Archives

Robin Oppenheimer Visions and Hindsights: Seattle's and/or Alternative Art Space

Kathy High, Ralph Hocking, and Sherry Miller Hocking Radical Learning, Radical Perception

Erika Dalya Muhammad Electrocultures