In the first decades of the 20th century film was still a young medium and represented modern cosmopolitan life. The cinema was particularly popular among artists of the avant-garde. Dadaists, Cubists, and Surrealists took inspiration from popular cinema for their art and their writings. Some artists, however, began to experiment with filmmaking themselves, among them Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger, Man Ray, and Hans Richter. Filmmakers like René Clair and Germaine Dulac also explored the basic components of the medium: light, movement, rhythm. The lecture investigates artists’ fascination with cinema in the 1920s and 1930s especially in France.

Die Vorlesung findet in deutscher Sprache statt. Relevante Literatur liegt größtenteils auf Englisch vor.

The lecture is held in German; relevant literature is mostly in English.