Marcel Duchamps Anémic cinéma (1926), Mo MA FILM VAULT SUMMER CAMP

Artist Marcel Duchamps wicked sense of humor and fascination with optics are both on display in Anémic The film is relatively simple in its construction: 19 spinning disks, some made of words and others of spiral designs. Its genius lies in the wordplay that emerges as the words and phrases change position, taking on new meaning and creating witty visual puns, and in the optical illusion of the flat, painted disks taking on depth when spun. The artist pits the threedimensional spiralswhich Duchamp called Rotoreliefsagainst twodimensional text, turning the film into a dynamic, kinetic poem. Even the title is part of the gag. (Spoiler: anemic and cinema are anagrams. ) There are other, unauthorized versions of this work, including one with footage taken from Sergei Eisensteins films of a statue of Napoleon, a girls face, and a tank. Duchamp was adamant that none of these were his version. Because Anémic cinéma is endlessly fascinating and possible to analyze from countless perspectives