In the forty years since its existence video art has moved from brief showings on tiny screens in alternative art spaces to monumental projections featured in international exhibitions and artistic events. It embraces all the significant art ideas and forms of recent times – from Abstract, Conceptual, Minimal, Performance and Pop art, to photography and film – and has been used creatively to extend, repeat, fast-forward, slow down and speed up time. In this survey of the now ubiquitous medium, the author traces how early practitioners used the video camera as an extension of the artist's own body, through to the vast array of conceptual, political, personal and lyrical installations of the 1980s and 1990s, to the present digital age in which artists combine video and film, computer art, graphics, animation and other elements to form new artistic expressions.

Some of the most pioneering works and influences to have emerged internationally are examined in this revised edition, as well as the recent use of video not only in multi-screen installations mixing sound and visuals, but also immersive environments such as Virtual Reality, aesthetic surveillance, and alternative sculpture that mix solid forms with moving images.

With select bibliography and chronology.