Person:

Canales, Jimena

In politics as in history, masters accomplish great things, but often, lowly beings such as servants perform those tasks. At times, they subvert them. In science, servant-beings are frequently described as demons and angels. Who are these effective agents? This essay traces parts of the large historical network of persons and places in which ‘little helpers’ service their master’s will. It looks at instances were masters try to exorcise the servant-demons who instead of helping them, disturb their plans. By uncovering fragments of this often hidden network, we explore the strange relationship between masters and servants, and the role of earthly and heavenly agents in science.

Cinematography, and the philosophical critiques it inspired, has come to represent modernity. The 19th century ended with reduced photographic time exposures. The 20th century began by marking itself on a new cinematographic strip. Yet by examining more carefully these narratives of modernity it becomes clear that much falls between cinematographic frames, into its framelines. In particular, non-cinematographic philosophies of time and movement are erased from view. This article inquires into these philosophies and traces their influence on later critiques of cinematography launched by Henri Bergson and later transformed by Gilles Deleuze. It focuses on debates between the philosopher Félix Ravaisson and the revolutionary art critic Eugène Guillaume with the purpose of rethinking the relationship between philosophy and technologies of movement.