Letter to the Director
" 'Seeing / Hearing / Speaking' is, I think, a true masterpiece. - Daniel Charles, author of "John Cage"

From the Actor
The new DVD, not just a
transfer of video, extends further with text, and graphics, which work
interactively. In "Hearing / Speaking", for instance, you can choose
among the monitors with the picture of face, head, ear and mouth in the
video-installation, and can read/see different programs. So that you
can perceive and localize "Hearing / Speaking" with the organs.
Together with "Seeing" in this DVD, I could combine the perception of
"Seeing" with "Hearing / Speaking". Besides "Talking to Myself", other
related videos are "Talking in New York"(1981, revised in 2001) and
"Talking to Myself at PS1" (1985).

Throughout
these videos I have examined the validity of an identity in video,
which is different from the actual voice, between "the I who hear" and
"the I who speak." It extends also to "the I who see" and "the I who is
seen". The text includes "A letter to Takahiko iimura" by David B.
Allison, and "On Talking to Myself" by Takahiko iimura. (T.I)

About the Actor
Takahiko Iimura has been a
pioneer artist of Japanese experimental film and video, working in film
since l960 and with video since 1970. He is also a widely established
international artist, having numerous exhibitions in Japan, the USA,
and Europe. One of his early films, "Onan", was awarded Special Prize
at the legendary Brussels International Experimental Festival, l964.
Recently he has been involved in using the computer, publishing
multimedia interactive CD-ROMs combining video, text, graphics, and
photos.

Product Description
A
multimedia/interactive DVD: "Seeing / Hearing / Speaking" has two
parts, a new video, "Seeing/ Hearing / Speaking", and three "Other
Related Videos" produced during 1978-2001. The total running time of
the video is 33min., which may be seen continuously by clicking
"Autoplay" at the menu. (The video version has only first part: "Seeing
/ Hearing / Speaking", 7min., b/w.)

Based
on a sentence taken from the seminal book of Jacques Derrida, French
philosopher, "Speech and Phenomena" translated by David B. Allison, I
produced first video "Talking to Myself" in 1978(revised in 2001). The
video was highly appreciated as "the strongest, most effective
statement one could make from the work of Derrida" by Professor
Allison. The sentence I quoted, that Derrida calls "phenomenological
essence", is that I hear myself at the same time that I speak.