Short and Sweet:
Views of Rotating Spirals and Drawings
Action
“Anemic Cinema” showcases the movement of 10 Rotoreliefs, specifically designed and invented by Duchamp, and 9 discs featuring nonsensical sentences. These words are simple puns and anagrams, unrelated and without further significance. The Rotoreliefs are non-concentric rotating circles that could induce hypnotic states.
The spirals created here lead to a classic optical illusion for the eye through their movement. Duchamp is thus one of the first to use the medium of film to explore the effects themselves and engage the viewer with scientific principles. “Anemic Cinema” is likely an early, important work in the chronology of visual effects.
Anémic Cinema is the only attempt by the renowned Dada artist Marcel Duchamp to realize his artistic visions through the medium of the then-nascent experimental film.