SYZYGY - Kochi Biennale

A meeting with Akbar Padamsee is always an experience of intellectual and artistic enrichment. His conversations, spanning encounters with artists like Robert Rauschenberg, philosophers like Jacques Derrida, and reflections on Kavyaprakasha, Mammata’s seminal Sanskrit treatise on aesthetics are deeply stimulating.

Syzygy is a 10-minute, black-and-white abstract film by Padamsee that reflects his multifaceted mind. Rooted in mathematical patterning, the film explores “a theory of programming forms.” Presented by the Priyasri Art Gallery in collaboration with Kochi Biennale’s 2014 edition. The title, referring to an astronomical event when stars come together in the same line, has a fascinating way of linking diverse elements- alphabets, numbers, triangles and a series of dots and dashes like Morse code.

The camera captures patterns that resemble fractured skyscraper silhouettes or seismic lines, while frame dissolves create a pulsing rhythm, imbuing the piece with motion and energy. Animation pioneer Ram Mohan collaborated on the film, offering technical support throughout its creation. Padamsee painstakingly drew 1,000 images on transparent animation sheets over three months, shooting each line incrementally with Mohan’s guidance.

Originally shot on 35mm using an animation camera and later transferred to 16mm, Syzygy was an experimental project that unexpectedly succeeded. It premiered in Paris, introduced at UNESCO by Jehangir Bhownagary, who humorously warned the audience it might give them a headache. Two decades later, it was screened at the Cinémathèque Française alongside works by Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp.

Syzygy is a rare glimpse into Padamsee’s experimental vision where abstract thought, visual rhythm, and intellectual play converge in a truly avant-garde cinematic form.