UID:
kobvindex_ZLB15012510
Format:
1 DVD-Video (ca. 60/45 Min.)
,
NTSC
Content:
For the nineteenth century, the world beneath the sea played much the same role that "outer space" played for the twentieth. The ocean depths were at once the ultimate scientific frontier and "the reservoir of the soul": the place of the unconscious, of imagination and the fantastic. The central figure of PROTEUS is biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel. As a young man, Haeckel found himself torn between science and art, materialism and religion, rationality and passion, outer and inner worlds. Through his discoveries beneath the sea, Haeckel eventually reconciled these dualities, bringing science and art together in a unitary, almost mystical vision. His work profoundly influenced not only biology but also movements, thinkers and authors as disparate as Art Nouveau and Surrealism, Sigmund Freud and D.H. Lawrence, Vladimir Lenin and Thomas Edison. The key to Haeckel's vision was a tiny undersea organism called the radiolarian, one of the earliest forms of life. Haeckel discovered, described, classified and painted four thousand species of these one-celled creatures. In their intricate geometric skeletons, seemingly infinite variety and stunning beauty, Haeckel saw the future possibilities of organic and created life. 20 years in the making and based almost entirely on images of nineteenth century painters, photographers and scientific illustrators, PROTEUS brings these undersea worlds to life in a "visually stunning fusion of art, cinema and science" (David Caron, Chair of Biological Sciences, USC). (Covertext)
Content:
This movie could only be made because two individuals made it their mission to do the impossible. First, we have Ernst Haeckel, the zoologist, who became fascinated by the symmetrical structure of single celled organisms and discovered thousands of new species. Then he undertook the Herculean task of drawing all these different types that he viewed under his microscope. Then we have the filmmaker who decided to painstakingly photograph a thousand of these wonderful drawings of nature, turn them into animation cells, and produce a kaleidoscopic visual feast of their nearly infinite variety. The first task was completed in about a decade...the second task two decades. So the final product is simply astonishing. Along with the visuals of these extraordinary protozoan structures is a biography of Ernst Haeckel himself and the relationship of his scientific journey to the metaphysical journey of Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his poem of the "Ancient Mariner." Consider this a unique DVD - nothing like it has ever been made and will be made. (Gerard D. Launay)
Note:
Orig.: USA, 2004
,
Extras: The Making of PROTEUS (45 min.). Radiolaria Gallery. Resources. Biography of Ernst Haeckel.
,
Engl.
Language:
English
Keywords:
Haeckel, Ernst
;
Künstlerische Form
;
Morphogenese
;
DVD-Video
;
Künstlerische Form
;
Natur
;
DVD-Video
;
Haeckel, Ernst
;
Strahlentierchen
;
DVD-Video
;
Haeckel, Ernst
;
Biographie
;
DVD-Video
;
DVD-Video
;
Biographie
;
Biografie
