Anemic Cinema
Encyclopedia
Anemic Cinema or Anémic Cinéma (1926
) is a Dada
ist, surrealist, or experimental film
made by Marcel Duchamp
. The film depicts whirling animated drawings
-- which Duchamp called Rotoreliefs -- alternated with pun
s in French
. Duchamp signed the film with his alter ego
name of Rrose Sélavy
.
Rotoreliefs were a phase of Duchamp's spinning works. To make the optical "play toys" he painted designs on flat cardboard circles and spun them on a phonograph turntable that when spinning the flat disks appeared 3-dimensional. He had a printer run off 500 sets of six of the designs and set up a booth at a 1935 Paris inventors' show to sell them. The venture was a financial disaster, but some optical scientists thought they might be of use in restoring 3-dimensional
sight to people with one eye.
In collaboration with Man Ray
and Marc Allégret
, Duchamp filmed early versions of the Rotoreliefs and they named the first film version Anémic Cinéma.
The Rotoreliefs are alternated with nine revolving disks with the following text in French, consisting of puns and alliteration
by Duchamp:
1926 in film
-Events:*August - Warner Brothers debuts the first Vitaphone film, Don Juan. The Vitaphone system used multiple 33⅓ rpm disc records developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric to play back audio synchronized with film....
) is a Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
ist, surrealist, or experimental film
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
made by Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
. The film depicts whirling animated drawings
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
-- which Duchamp called Rotoreliefs -- alternated with pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
s in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. Duchamp signed the film with his alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
name of Rrose Sélavy
Rrose Sélavy
Rrose Sélavy, or Rose Sélavy, was one of the pseudonyms of artist Marcel Duchamp. The name, a pun, sounds like the French phrase "Eros, c'est la vie", which translates to English as "eros, that's life". It has also been read as "arroser la vie" .Sélavy emerged in 1921 in a series of photographs by...
.
Rotoreliefs were a phase of Duchamp's spinning works. To make the optical "play toys" he painted designs on flat cardboard circles and spun them on a phonograph turntable that when spinning the flat disks appeared 3-dimensional. He had a printer run off 500 sets of six of the designs and set up a booth at a 1935 Paris inventors' show to sell them. The venture was a financial disaster, but some optical scientists thought they might be of use in restoring 3-dimensional
Three-dimensional space
Three-dimensional space is a geometric 3-parameters model of the physical universe in which we live. These three dimensions are commonly called length, width, and depth , although any three directions can be chosen, provided that they do not lie in the same plane.In physics and mathematics, a...
sight to people with one eye.
In collaboration with Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
and Marc Allégret
Marc Allégret
Marc Allégret was a French screenwriter and film director.Born in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, he was the elder brother of Yves Allégret. Marc was educated to be a lawyer. Allégret became André Gide's lover when he was fifteen and Gide was forty-seven...
, Duchamp filmed early versions of the Rotoreliefs and they named the first film version Anémic Cinéma.
The Rotoreliefs are alternated with nine revolving disks with the following text in French, consisting of puns and alliteration
Alliteration
In language, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of Three or more words or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to...
by Duchamp:
- "Bains de gros thé pour grains de beauté sans trop de bengué." (BenGay was invented in France by Dr. Jules Bengué)
- "L'enfant qui tète est un souffleur de chair chaude et n'aime pas le chou-fleur de serre-chaude."
- "Si je te donne un sou, me donneras-tu une paire de ciseaux?"
- "On demande des moustiques domestiques (demi-stock) pour la cure d'azote sur la côte d'azur."
- "Inceste ou passion de famille, à coups trop tirés."
- "Esquivons les ecchymoses des Esquimaux aux mots exquis."
- "Avez-vous déjà mis la moëlle de l'épée dans le poêle de l'aimée?"
- "Parmi nos articles de quincaillerie par essence, nous recommandons le robinet qui s'arrête de couler quand on ne l'écoute pas."
- "L'aspirant habite Javel et moi j'avais l'habite en spirale."
See also
- Avant-Garde: Experimental Films of the 1920s and 1930sAvant-garde (dvd collection)Avant-Garde is a DVD-series with experimental films released by Kino International.-Experimental Cinema of the 1920s and 1930s:Avant-Garde: Experimental Cinema of the 1920s and 1930s is a 2-disc, 6-hour DVD collection, released in August 2005 by Kino International which includes the following...
(DVD collection which includes Anémic Cinéma)