The film re-stages a 17th century still life - bringing its symbolic criticism of religious and secular power structures into line with those of a post-colonial, neo-liberal and globalising world. It does so in order to propose a re-reading of both the representation of politics and the politics of representation. Leading us on an excursion through the layers of symbols, work processes and the art forms of film, photography, dance, theatre, music and literature it uncovers the normative parameters that form the invisible or unacknowledged cultural cage in which we spend most of our time. In the interaction of political discussion, art forms and levels of meaning the film is a text which can be read as part of a discourse on political art and political activism.