The pioneer in underground film Stan VanDerBeek (USA, 1927-1984) studied painting, architecture and design. In the latter half of the fifties he produced a series of animated collages that were the best-known part of his body of film, later inspiring other creators, such as Terry Gilliam, the author of Monty Python’s famous animations. In his works of cut-out animation, VanDerBeek experimented by mixing calligraphy and painted elements with real images filmed by others or by himself. Interested in the connection between art and new technologies, in the sixties he produced multimedia works and computer animation, and in the seventies he created the Movie Drome, an audiovisual laboratory for the projection of films, dance, theatre, magic, and visual and sound effects, putting into practice his ideas about expanded cinema.
