Extremely Tiny and Indivisible Dust: Cinematic Buddhist Studies and the Spatial Experience of Seeing Hans Richter’s <i>Rhythmus 21</i>

Rhythmus 21 (Hans Richter, 1921) has earned a highly influential position in abstract or absolute film, presenting the rectangles of various sizes that seem to initiate a sense of depth. Nevertheless, the spatial experience of seeing this film can fall apart if Buddhist dust theory is applied to the discussion of spatial experience. This article uses wufen weichen (extremely tiny and indivisible dust) in Buddhist studies as a philosophical methodology for scrutinising the spatial experience of seeing Rhythmus 21, arguing that there is no inherently spatial depth manifested in this film because all the rectangles can be seen as the same size. In other words, there are no large and small rectangles establishing close and distant zones. This argument will lead to an alternative epistemological understanding of no-absolute-size, which will trigger a re-examination of the existential state of spatial depth. Throughout this article, detailed analyses of the rectangles’ sizes within the philosophical context of Buddhist dust theory will give rise to a new ontological interpretation of space in this film.