You Can't Lick Stamps in China

Published by International Television Workshop and WNET-TV, New York
In collaboration with Gregory Battcock
Camera by Gregory Battcock, Joe Gold, Dimitri Devyatkin & Bon Harris
Performances by Shigeko Kubota, Jud Yalkut, Pamela Souza, Joyce Chen,
Elliot Rose, John J. Godfrey, Tom DeFanti & Phil Morton
Directed by Russel Connor
Length: 29'05"
Excerpt: 00'25''

Donation from Associazione Culturale KINEMA, Rome

You Can't Lick Stamps in China begins as a witty travelogue that explores the position of the Western tourist in relation to other cultural contexts. Created for the Visa series, which was conceived by Paik to highlight artistic/cultural explorations, the tape takes the form of a document of Battcock's two-month cruise to China. The trip is then reframed and recontextualized at a reunion of Battcock's fellow travellers, during which they watch the original travel footage and comment on their experiences. Ultimately, the tape considers the mediation of reality through memory and images.

Bibl: E. Decker, "Paik Video", DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne, p. 161-162.