Papillon d'amour

Papillon d’amour is based on key scenes from Akira Kurosawa’s classic Rashômon [1950], which are modified by a simple intervention: the insertion of a vertical axis of reflection through the image center. This central axis defines the focus of agency and, at the same time, the sphere of maximum turbulence on the image plane. It becomes an interstice perpetually engulfing and rebirthing images, producing figures in ongoing metamorphosis. Be it the step-by-step disembodiment of the female figure in Papillon d’amour, or the repeated submergence and reemergence of the two antagonists in Bataille—the fold simultaneously promises protection and destruction, making the figures more and less than whole. (Katrin Mundt)