Problem Solving by Chimpanzees, 1914-1917.
Comparisons between humans and animals are foundational to the experimental branches of medicine and psychology. Yet converting the bafflingly complex bodies and behaviors of nonhuman animals into scientific models is not a straightforward process. From testing apparatuses to spreadsheets of findings, from textbooks on animal handling to published journal articles, such a transformation requires an intricate system of interlocking media. Film has been an essential, yet largely overlooked, element within this process. Often treated as purely transparent scientific recordings, the films produced out of animal research are in fact deeply formalist works that tested what film could capture through the image of an animal—variously proposing that they could visualize pure thought, the processes of history and culture, and the influence of the environment on an organism. In this capacity, scientific filmmakers often advanced their own theories of media and their relationship to living organisms, theories which overlapped with and influenced figures like Marshall McLuhan.
Curated by Benjamin Schultz-Figueroa
SCREENING
Problem Solving by Chimpanzees
Wolfgang Köhler, 1914-1917, digital transfer, b&w, silent, 8:00
An Experimentally Produced “Social Problem” in Rats
O.H. Mowrer, 1939, digital transfer, b&w, silent, 10:52
Interview with Calhoun
John B. Calhoun, 1970, digital transfer, color, sound, 38:28
Animal Sexual Behavior Films
Alfred Kinsey & William Dellenback, circa 1940-1950, 16mm transferred to digital color, sound
Pigeon & Red Block
B. F. Skinner, 1947, 16mm transferred to digital, color, silent, 1:01
Project Orcon
B. F. Skinner, 1942, 16mm transferred to digital, color, silent, 2:59
The Behavioral Revolution
B. F. Skinner, 1975, 16mm transferred to digital, color, sound, 28:36
Watch Elon Musk's Neuralink Monkey Play Video Games with his Brain
2021, digital, color, sound, 3:27
Tickets: $10 General | $5 Student/Seniors | $20 for both programs on Dec 8 | FREE for LA Filmforum Members
via link.dice.fm
Dr. Benjamin Schultz-Figueroa’s research and teaching focus on the History of Scientific Filmmaking, Nontheatrical Film, Animal Representations on Film, Science Fiction and Horror. He has a forthcoming publication, Viscera, Skin, and Physical Form: Corporeality and Early Cinema. His newest book, being released in February 2023, is The Celluloid Specimen: Moving Image Research into Animal Life (UC Press).