Ecstatic Worlds grows out of my many years of working on public art projects with the Public Access Collective in Toronto, and I am indebted to the different members of the collective and to the many artists with whom I have collaborated. I am grateful to my long-time interlocutors Susan Lord, Scott Mackenzie, and Michael Zryd who generously read and commented on more chapter drafts than they probably care to remember. Kathy Daymond and Tim Pearson also read and commented on drafts of chapters. Michael Prokopow and Tyler Survant were supportive at critical points. My collaborators Michael Darroch and Monika Gagnon helped to nurture different ideas that are woven into this book. I am thankful to Christine Davis for wonderful exchanges about art, curation, and public space over the course of writing this book.
I have had the honor of interviewing legendary experimental and multiscreen filmmakers Michael Snow, Graeme Ferguson, Christopher Chapman, Roman Kroitor, Colin Low, Morley Markson, and Toni Myers, from whom I learned so much about the materiality of cinema and spectatorship. My fortunate encounters with luminaries such as Gerry O’Grady, Perttu Rastas, Anthony Vidler, Chantal Mouffe, Nikos Papastergiadis, and Fulya Erdemci at opportune moments in the book’s development helped to shape several of the chapters. I enjoyed interviewing Martin Heath on several occasions, and I am deeply appreciative for having had access to his rich CineCycle archive. He introduced me to Graham Stevens’s wonderful pneumatic endeavors. I have also benefited from conversations with Chip Lord and Curtis Schreier of Ant Farm, who generously discussed some of their historical projects and steered me toward some new ones. I am grateful to numerous artists for providing me with information and in some cases photographs of their work: Graham Stevens, Mika Taanila, Amy Balkin, Tania Mouraud, WORKac (Amale Andraos and Dan Wood), John Porter, and Andrew Paterson. The painstaking work of archivists and curators is essential for researchers, and I am indebted to the following people and archives: Carol Stewart, Patrick Geddes Papers, Archives and Special Collections, University of Strathclyde; Tony Dykes, BFI National Archive; the Jaqueline Tyrwhitt Collection, Archives of the Royal Institute of British Architects; Liz Kurtulik Mercuri, MoMA: The Edward Steichen Archive; the fonds Louis Malle, Cinémathèque française; Stephanie Cannizzo and Tracy Jones at the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Archive; Paul Gordon at Library and Archives Canada.
I am privileged to have great colleagues at York University; Seth Feldman, Caitlin Fisher, John Greyson, Sharon Hayashi, Ali Kazimi, Brenda Longfellow, and Ken Rogers created a convivial and inspiring collegium. At York I also had the pleasure of working with outstanding graduate students whom I encountered in various courses, conferences, and research endeavors. In particular, Jessica Mulvogue, Aimée Mitchell, and Clint Enns contributed to research in significant ways. I am deeply thankful to Nick Fernandes who helped in acquiring images and reproduction rights. Marina Kuznetsov and Jess Marchessault worked patiently to track down some pesky archival sources. Several aspects of the book were supported by grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, as well as a Research Fellowship from the Trudeau Foundation.
It is an honor to have Ecstatic Worlds included in the Leonardo book series at the MIT Press. Series editor Sean Cubitt has been a significant inspiration and a profound influence on my thinking for many years. The series reflects the breadth and originality of his engagement with media art. Working with Doug Sery has been a tremendous opportunity; he guided the book through to publication with intellectual rigor and sage advice. I am most thankful for the detailed comments and thoughtful suggestions that I received on the manuscript from the anonymous reviewers. I took most if not all of their suggestions into the final revisions of the book. Susan Buckley, Noah Spring, Matthew Abbate, and Paula Woolley were a pleasure to work with. Their attention to detail and their editorial skills made the production process not only seamless but enjoyable! I thank Tim Pearson for indexing this book.
Finally, I would most like to acknowledge my husband, Phil Hoffman, for his incredible support through thick and thin. His boundless love and friendship enabled me to finish this book, which I dedicate to him.