Philosophy of The Encounter

September 13th, 6:30 - 8:30 pm

On November 16th, 1980, distinguished philosopher Louis Althusser strangled his wife, Helene Rytman, in their apartment at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. Althusser was declared unfit to stand trial by reason of temporary insanity and was committed to a psychiatric hospital. Upon his release in 1983, he continued writing philosophical essays and auto-biographical texts. Today Althusser remains a respected thinker: his texts written before and after the murder continue to be published and read. Helene, on the other hand, is completely forgotten: in death, as in life, she remains an insignificant woman lost in the shadow of her famous husband. 

The story of Helene Rytman is the focus of a new film, “Philosophy of the Encounter”, created by artist Tatiana Istomina. The film retells Helene Rytman’s story in the form of a puppet performance featuring life-size fabric dolls (created by Montreal-based artist Mona Sharma), activated by a masked puppeteer (played by Anna Gregor). Richly colored and highly atmospheric, the film shows the Helene and Louis wandering about their flat, lost in a liminal space between dream and reality; they are searching for self-expression and meaningful connection with one another, but remain locked in their private fantasies. The silent narrative is accompanied by an original soundtrack developed in collaboration with composers and instrumentalists Susan Kuo and Brian Riordan; it underscores the eerie, emotionally and psychologically ambivalent mood of the story.

The film screening was accompanied by a conversation between artist Mira Schor and poet Miriam Atkin. This event is co-produced with A.I.R. Gallery.