A cinema of presence and proximity: Gunvor Nelson's collage films and the aesthetics of the signaletic material before the electronic signal

This essay argues for the importance of an intersubjective and impure film theory in which the signal and the signaletic is considered as figures for approaching film. This in order to make the argument that the signaletic mode indeed enables a novel perspective on moving image history. The aesthetics of the signaletic has thus a history preceding that of electronic media, in particular when it comes to animation and experimental film. When constructing such an archaeology, however, dichotomies into sign and signal should be avoided; otherwise, the complexity of many of the films is reduced. In order to illuminate the latter point, four films by Gunvor Nelson is analyzed (both analog and digital), showing not only how both sign and signal interact but also how the aesthetics of the signal and the signaletic material is not dependant on the electronic as such.