The stamps in a collection, projected and enlarged onto a canvas, start out as the object of philatelic and historical analysis, and then become the protagonists of novelistic wanderings and, in particular, a recreation of the arrival of the Portuguese in Japan and the subsequent introduction of firearms in that country. With complete freedom, the characters on the stamps become other characters, mixed together regardless of their time and geographical context. The cultural specificity of each stamp is no longer respected (particularly with regard to the coloniser/colonised relationship), in favour of free iconographic crossings and ambiguous identities. The show is operated live by three people sitting around a table: one manipulates the stamps under the view of a film camera; another does the voiceover; another manipulates sound machinery. The audience simultaneously sees the technical procedures of the show and the ‘film’ that results from them, as if they were watching the machinations of a studio live – a studio with a hybrid activity between animated cinema (made of stamps) and a radio programme.

The show ends with a reading of a letter sent to the team by Virginia Woolf, about the need to be wary of images, which can be misleading.