Between the Folds
With Director and Producer Vanessa Gould, Executive Producer Sally Rosenthal, and Paper Artists Chris Palmer, Michael LaFosse, and Richard Alexander
Live Origami Demonstrations Will Follow the Screening
Co-presented by the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival
Sunday, October 18, 2009, McBean Theater at 2pm

Exploratorium Cinema Arts and the San Francisco Documentary Festival co-present Between the Folds, a 2009 work by filmmaker Vanessa Gould, with the filmmaker present in person, on Sunday, October 18, 2009, in the McBean Theater at 2pm. Between the Folds (2009, 55 min.) chronicles ten artists and scientists who have devoted time to the unlikely medium of modern origami. Vanessa Gould, who has degrees in physics and architecture, explores the expression of mathematics through origami. She became captivated by the art and science of transforming sheets of paper into three-dimensional geometric shapes — and exposed a hidden subculture. Between the Folds has won numerous Best Documentary Awards and Audience Awards. Portions of the film have also been installed in museums and gallery exhibitions in the US and Europe. Also at the screening will be film executive producer Sally Rosenthal, and paper artists Chris K. Palmer, Michael LaFosse, and Richard Alexander. Live origami demonstrations will follow the screening. This event is included in the price of admission to the Exploratorium.

In the words of Vanessa Gould, as told to Nature, “Through a keen focus and passion to reinterpret the world in paper, these artists and scientists bring forth a fascinating mix of sensibilities towards art, perception, creativity and meaning. The film opens intimately with three of the world’s best paperfolders — a former sculptor outside Paris folding caricatures; a hyper-realist who walked away from a NASA physics career to challenge the physics of a folded square; and a papermaker who folds impressionistic models out of the very same paper he makes from scratch. As the film progresses, the artists become less conventional, and the post-modern concepts of abstraction, minimalism, deconstruction, process, and empiricism take root — mirroring 20th century art itself. Abstract artists emerge with a greater emphasis on process and concept, rattling the fundamental roots of realism that have long dominated traditional origami. Eventually science emerges as another front in the exploration of origami — featuring advanced mathematicians as well as a remarkable researcher from the Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT and recent winner of the MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award for his theoretical origami research. While debates arise on issues of technique, symbolism and purpose, the film ultimately culminates with the idea that art and science are but two different interpretations of the very same world around us — one that we all struggle to understand and honor. The medium of paperfolding — a blank, uncut square — emerges as a resounding metaphor for the creative potential and transformation of us all.”

[Show as slideshow]

Vanessa Gould has studied a mix of science, art, film, and design over the past two decades, including architecture and astrophysics at Columbia and music at the New England Conservatory. Between the Folds was a project born of great admiration for the artists and scientists working in paper, and the belief that their remarkable work should be documented. She is also a pianist and painter.

Paper artist Chris K. Palmer is an artist who specializes in traditional and modern geometric art, textile design, traditional ornament and folding. He has recently been teaching architectural design at the University of Colorado in Boulder and is a member of an international design team doing architectural ornament in Middle-Eastern styles for the American Institute of Mathematics Research Conference Center in San Jose, CA.

To view the trailer, go to: www.greenfusefilms.com
The 8th San Francisco Documentary Festival takes place October 16-28 at the Roxie Cinema. Info at www.sfindie.com (after September 20).