simon dybbroe møller archive

Respiration is nothing but a slow combustion of carbon and hydrogen, entirely similar to that which occurs in a lighted lamp. Animals that breathe are true combustible bodies that burn and consume themselves.

– Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier (1794)

At the heart of our self-image lies the assumption that the human being is more than the animal and other than the machine. One such machine is the camera. The camera demands to be pointed at something – it needs a motif. That motif is very often an animal.

In this first edition of Lifeblood Film Club we shall engage with artists who have used photographic machines to look at animals. We shall look at moving images using animals as machines for expressing thought. We believe that the camera is an analogy machine.

We believe that our escaped childhood pet, curling up to hide, in that short moment, was neither rabbit nor boulder.

Welcome to Lifeblood Film Club.

At the heart of our self-image lies the assumption that the human being is more than the animal and other than the machine. One such machine is the camera. We mirror ourselves in the camera, identify with it, oppose it, we objectify and negotiate each other through it. The camera is an automaton epitomizing human anatomy.

In this second edition of Lifeblood Film Club we shall engage with artists who have used photographic machines to look at themselves, at other humans or at the human as such.

We believe that the camera is a choreography machine. We believe that it is more than a surrogate, more than relief; that Jaques Brel is really addressing the machine when he looks into its lens and sings “Ne me quitte pas.”

Welcome to Lifeblood Filmclub.

At the heart of our self-image lies the assumption that the human being is more than the animal and other than the machine. One such machine is the camera.

The camera demands to be pointed at something – it needs a motif. That motif is very often an animal or a human body. Really though, the camera begs to be pointed back at itself. This machine; this child of the industrial revolution, begs to be negotiated in relation to its own ancestry. 

In this edition of Lifeblood Film Club we shall engage with artists who have used photographic machines to look at other machines.

We believe that, we are not, as Richard Brautigan once wishfully imagined, “watched over by machines of loving grace”. Rather we are feeding a machine – and the machine eats images.

Welcome to Lifeblood Film Club.