This thesis sets out to examine three works of expanded cinema from the 1950s that preceded the psychedelic light shows of the 1960s with which they are often associated with. Through the medium of light, German avant-garde artist Oskar Fischinger’s Lumigraph (1951), San Francisco Beat filmmaker Jordan Belson’s Vortex concerts (1957-1959) and Beat writer and artist Brion Gysin’s Dream Machine (1958) expressed a quest for inner truths and cosmic connections. 

Each work emerged in a distinct context and this study reveals the meaningful intersections of the artists’ trajectories. Created during the postwar years characterized by uncertainty, cynicism and rapid technological development; the discussed art works reveal a shared belief in light’s potential as a vehicle through which to experience forms of spirituality that were outside mainstream forms of devotion in the Western world.