Steve Osada

Bondage film released by S&M Sniper.

If all pictures became current, in that they pass by and in doing so, are connectable with one another, whether elegantly or obscenely, through translation or association—how would it be possible to fasten down a picture? Hito Steyerl’s light-hearted picture translations are about fastening things in an elegant-obscene way: In Tokyo she is looking for a photo series that she posed for in 1987 as a “rope bondage” model. While making inquiries with experts and authorities in the bondage arts (which are mainly marketed online nowadays), she found what she was looking for in a magazine archive. The cinematic tension is extremely high just now says the translator while Steyerl looks through photos of herself from her days as a film student.

This feature documentary 'The Pleasure of Rope' explores Kinbaku, the art of Japanese rope bondage. Director Bob Bentley goes backstage at events and also explores the secret erotic world of rope. For many, tying and being tied is obsessively compulsive. Intimate disclosures reveal rare insights in narratives that are surprising and at times disturbing.

In Shinto religion, in order to make something sacred, man will tie a rope around it. This sacred quality of the tying can be applied also to Kinbaku, which is an erotic, spiritual, artistic connection between the people who are doing it