Four short films will be screened in the window displays of the new National Gallery / Veletržní Palace venue Korzo.

The visualization of psychotic states, moving images of the beating heart of a slain frog, X-ray films – fascinating visual attractions based on science, images that stand on the verge, or the intersection between the scientific and visual experiment. Scientists used these as research materials or evidence, while to the lay public they represent a unique spectacle. Czech scientists and filmmakers likewise succumbed to the temptation to experiment with the possibilities of the medium of cinema, in order to expand the field of the “visible.” Four peep-shows offering four Czech short films – located at the edge of experimental experiences based on the sciences.

The Life of a Dead Frog (Život zabité žáby, 1911) by Bohumil Bauš is one of the first Czech science films, capturing movement provoked by prompting the dead body of a frog with electric current. Electricity in Medicine (Elektřina v lékařství) from the 1940s demonstrates the medical uses of electricity, with devices such as roentgenocinematography. Seconds Immortalized (Zvěčněné vteřiny, 1945) was initially made as an advertisement for still cameras, as a film on photography, however, it poses the issue of the relationship between still and moving images. The 1962 film Wanted: Toxin X (Hledá se toxin X) is a unique attempt to visualize the subjective emotions of participants in an experiment with psychosis. In order to find adequate cinematic visualization of these states, the filmmakers – including the DOP, editor and music composer – subjected themselves to the experiment.

 

Films: The Life of a Dead Frog (1911), Electricity in Medicine (1943), Seconds Immortalized (1945), Wanted: Toxin X (1962)

 

The exhibition is accessible from Dukelských Hrdinů street twenty-four hours a day.

 

Produced in collaboration with the National Film Archive.