What is the subject of video? Charlotte Klink traces the development of electromagnetism in the
pursuit of »Electric Seeing« that emerged in the 19th century as well as its curious relation
to psychoanalysis and the contemporary discovery of the structure of the human psyche. In doing
so she exposes how this development laid the foundation of what we know today as »video«. This
comprehensive theory of video entails a discussion of the technological historical and
etymological roots the media-theoretical concepts of medium and index the philosophical and
art-theoretical environment in which video emerged in the 1960s the psychoanalytic concept of
the phantasm and artworks by artists such as Yael Bartana Hito Steyerl and Bjørn Melhus.
