“[Ri]belle Infedele” (unfaithful rebel) subverts the primacy of sense over nonsense, original over iteration, meaning over musicality. Upending these conventional hierarchies, the homophonic translation of the Italian poem sacrifices meaning on the alter of sound. The title evokes — while also rejecting the implied sexism of — “la belle infidèle”, the 19th century French literary practice of placing beauty above accuracy in translations, while the opening line of Andrea Paoli’s Italian poem, “Tradurre è tradire” (to translate is to betray), is a nod to an Italian expression about the treacherous work of translation. This line also introduces the reader-viewer to the dual motif of homophony and translingual compromise, taken up by Kalen Iwamoto’s English translation and underscored by Julien Silvano’s monophonic and analog sound textures. Also taking its cue from dadaist cinema and its defence of nonsense, the work employs dadaist techniques and oscillates not only between lips, but between sound and meaning, text and movement, creating an unstable, linguistic space.