So Much I Want to Say Mona Hatoum, 1983

The video So Much I Want to Say consists of a series of still images, changing every eight seconds, which show the artist s face in closeup with a pair of male hands gagging her mouth and preventing her from speaking. Meanwhile her voice on the soundtrack repeats over and over the words of the title. This is one of Hatoum s earliest video works and is based on material from a live performance. During a tour of Canada in 1983 she participated in a slowscan video exchange between Vienna and Vancouver entitled Wiencouver IV. Slowscan satellite transmits an image every eight seconds, with continuous sound via telephone lines. Hatoum s contribution, transmitted live from Vancouver, was also titled So Much I Want to Say. The video work uses footage from the live transmission. It was made at the Western Front Art Centre and is a Western Front Production.