Anaemic Cinema (1926) – Marcel Duchamp

Anaemic Cinema (1926)

Marcel Duchamp

Anaemic Cinema is a characteristically Dada film by Marcel Duchamp with the assistance of artist Man Ray. The viewer is presented with alternating shots of Duchamp’s Disk Bearing Spirals, spiral patterns intended to produce a three-dimensional quality, and texts pasted letter by letter, of punning phrases by Duchamp’s pseudonym, Rrose Sélavy. The phrases are nonsensical, arranged in spiral patterns, and read from outside inwards. This reading suggests a sense of eroticism, which is reinforced with the backward forward direction of pattern movement. Duchamp employed a series of optical experiments to create an engaging, near hypnotic effect.

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