Eight times, a hand uncovers a veiled figure, who utters a simple aphorism. Throughout the tape, each figure is revealed a second time, in the act of creation: writing, dancing, playing music. The video functions both as a meditation on the creative process and as a series of cameo portraits of eight members of the Halifax cultural community. The proscenium curtain identifies the video monitor as a pocket opera set, the sort of theatrical toy beloved by Ingmar Bergman. The eight maxims appear on decorative scrolls, like the subtitles in Bergman's Magic Flute. Both devices link the video with the genteel optimism of Goethe's Enlightenment. Simple and direct, the work is gently relieved by a concluding series of short comical outtakes.