Witch’s Cradle
1943,

Director: Maya Deren (1917-1961)
Cast: Marcel Duchamp, B&W (incomplete)

"Witch’s Cradle, a choreographed set of movements between the figure (played by Duchamp) and the camera. The film was intended to be an exploration of the magical qualities of objects in Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of this Century Gallery, a space where Duchamp also exhibited. Witch’s Cradle remains unfinished, the film recalling Duchamp’s difficulty with completion. Duchamp’s Large Glass or The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even (1915-23) collected dust in his studio for seven years until it was shattered in transit. Duchamp celebrated the accident as the final element allowing the art to be considered complete. “…