Intermedia, Multimedia, and Media

This chapter recovers the lost history of intermedia. This history relates to the earliest use of the term intermedia, a word coined in 1965 by Fluxus co-founder Dick Higgins. Intermedia traces its development from earlier periods into the modern context of work by Fluxus artists who blended conceptual art, technical media, social concerns, events, music, and what would come to be performance art. The chapter also seeks to clarify the notion of intermedia in relation to other contemporary terms such as multimedia and new media. We argue that the concept of intermedia has many pasts and histories. We can view these from different frames of reference, and each frame points to different directions with different and interesting futures. This broad framework enables us to consider the intersections of old technologies and new. Such a framework permits us to develop robust research programs that deliver information, education, entertainment, and art in useful and useable forms.