Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
A seminal work born of the experimental film movement of the 1920s, the French artist Marcel Duchamp’s Anémic Cinéma (1926) features a series of hypnotic spinning discs, which he called ‘rotoreliefs’. For the film, the painted circular designs were captured spinning on a phonograph, giving them the illusion of depth. Throughout, these clockwise sequences trade off with counterclockwise-spinning sentences written in French. While, due to their use of pun and alliteration, these phrases are considered to be somewhat untranslatable into English, each is sexually suggestive or otherwise obscene.
The film is credited to Duchamp’s female alter ego Rrose Sélavy, with his frequent Dadaist collaborator Man Ray serving as cinematographer. Like much of Duchamp’s oeuvre, Anémic Cinéma is a peculiar and somewhat opaque provocation, hinting at symmetries or parallels between words and images in its composition and near-palindromic title. Originally released as a silent film, this 2K digital restoration features a score from the Indiana-based composer William Pearson, commissioned by Aeon.
Director: Marcel Duchamp
Digital restoration: Tamur Qutab
Restoration producer: Adam D’Arpino
Restoration composer: William Pearson
Restoration musicians: William Pearson, Conner Nicoson
video
Family life
The precious family keepsakes that hold meaning for generations
10 minutes
video
Information and communication
Coverage of the ‘balloon boy’ hoax forms a withering indictment of for-profit news
17 minutes
video
Meaning and the good life
Wander through the English countryside with two teens trying to make sense of the world
10 minutes
video
Art
A puppeteer makes sense of an overwhelming world by shrinking it down to size
5 minutes
video
Anthropology
Does Mogi’s future lie with her horses on the Mongolian steppe, or in the city?
16 minutes
video
Art
The sprawling mural that depicts an unflinching people’s history of Los Angeles
7 minutes
video
Personality
A ‘dumpster archeologist’ reconstructs strangers’ stories via what they’ve discarded
14 minutes
video
Art
In his poem ‘London’, William Blake crafted a bleak vision of the city he loved
9 minutes
video
Art
A prisoner in Guantánamo finds some escape in building intricate model ships
6 minutes