The Invention and Early History of IMAX

IMAX is a Canadian-born invention that has had little scholarly investigation despite its continued commercial success. The importance of this research project stems from the lack of scholarly research about the beginnings of IMAX as a Canadian-born invention and its place within the history media technology. In celebration of IMAX’s 50th anniversary, The Public Access Collective, through their project entitled Outer Worlds, will be commissioning five Canadian artists to create new large-format films in order to foreground the Invention of IMAX, explore the technological and aesthetic imaginaries of the early years of the Invention. In 2019 Outer Worlds will be showcasing the commissioned films at Cinesphere (the first permanent IMAX theatre) in Toronto in addition to other IMAX venues across Canada. Working in tandem with Public Access, my research will investigate, through archival research and field interviews, the historical and technological contribution to cinema made by the founding artists and inventors of IMAX. This research on the early history of the technology and its format-specific cinema will support the Outer Worlds festival in the development of the exhibition’s public presentations, panels, and scholarly publications.

Faculty Supervisor:

Robert Allison

Student:

Partner:

PUBLIC Journal

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Entertainment and Media; Education; Technology

University:

York University

Program: