Anti-Art is Art

To justify anti-art there must be the existence of art. Ballet Mecanique, directed by Fernand Léger, defines the art development of surrealism in the Dada movement where a number of techniques are used in the film to demonstrate the intention of creating art that supports anti-aesthetics. Although Dadaism is a movement of rejecting traditional art form and theories, the production showcased anti-art artist understand the foundation of traditional art through a medium; in this case a film.  Perhaps, this is better described as intellectual art.

This film rejects the original intent of film making portraying a story or conveying an idea.  In fact, this film projects a mystical experience and establishes an illusion for the viewer.  This film juxtaposes humanization to mechanics. Filmmakers use transitions such as panning left to right, zooming in and out, to create montages.  In contrary, Leger distorted the film by breaking away from the traditional way of filming - for instance, the scene where the woman is walking on a lengthy staircase is implied using footage of her walking on the same steps numerous times.  Instead of using zoom and fade in and out effects to transition to the next scene, geometric shapes are used to imply a transition.  The soundtrack ignores transitions from one scene to the next, however, segments of various soundtracks are used in a repetitive style to suggest a different activity or movement. 


Janet