Artists and close friends Shuntaro Tanikawa and Shuji Terayama began corresponding by videotape between 1982 and 1983, cleverly combining art and communication with (what was then) the latest thing in technology. Unfortunately, neither had much to say to the other, and their exchanges all too often took the form of faintly pretentious doodles exploring sources of meaning using obscure verbal and visual connotation. Watching these collected 'letters' in sequence can be enjoyable for maybe fifteen minutes, after which the concept quickly loses its novelty value and begins looking more like an artistic competition to see who can out-signify the other. The entire program runs for 74 excruciating minutes, a test of endurance for all but the most committed student of semiotics.
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