Anémic Cinéma, Marcel Duchamp’s only cinematic work, is now regarded as a classic of both Dadaism and Surrealism. Early in his career, Duchamp began experimenting with optical phenomena, including the effects of negative and positive shapes on perception.
In the film, made with his friend Man Ray and filmmaker Marc Allégret, hypnotic spiral patterns alternate with rotating, enigmatic texts containing alliterative and sometimes lewd puns in French. Duchamp sought to dissolve both visual and linguistic rationality.
The animation effect was created by filming Duchamp’s Rotoreliefs as they turned on a gramophone turntable. The rotating discs were originally intended for sale at a trade show, but in 1926 the market was not yet ready for them.
Moderna Museet granted SSE Art Initiative permission to present the film from its art-film collection. Anémic Cinéma was the second classic from that collection to be screened at SSE.
