"la lettre" is a series of eight generative videos that combine kinect poetry, physics and geometry, to produce a hypnotic visual experience. Every video shows the French verse "le poéte respire au pied de la lettre", an original text written by Merhi.

The letters appear rising and falling in a continuous flux, usually on top of a wavy moving surface. In quantum physics, particles exhibit wave-like properties. Quantum systems are described by wave functions, which are mathematical descriptions of the probability of finding a particle in a certain state or location. Additionally, the undulating stripes on the background evoke the ripples of a quantum probability wave, as well as the optical patterns of classic kinetic artworks.

"la lettre" also references the concept of "the letter", which Lacan described as the material support that concrete discourse borrows from language. Ultimately, each video is a visual meditation on how structured human symbols emerge from (and dissolve back into) the vibrating fabric of existence.

go back