Palindrome

While working at a photo lab, Frampton discovered that the waste at both ends of processed film rolls—where chemicals acted on the emulsion through clips used to attach the film to the machine—produced images too intriguing to discard. For *Palindrome*, Frampton selected images he described as “tending towards the biomorphic,” resembling abstract surrealist painting. However, the strict palindromic structure he imposed on the images—a motorized sequence based on “twelve variations on each of forty congruent phrases”—diverges from the subjective aesthetic of the expressive, highlighting Frampton’s interest in the “generative power” of films composed through rules and principles.