Smithsonian American Art Museum Page 1 of 11 Wall Text, Nam June Paik: Global Visionary 12/7/2012/cr

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1 Smithsonian American Art Museum Page 1 of 11

2 Megatron/Matrix 1995 eight-channel video installation with custom electronics; color, sound Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Mr. and Mrs. Barney A. Ebsworth, Nelson C. White, and the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, Megatron/Matrix is roughly the size of a billboard and holds 215 monitors. The video augmented by a loop of unrelated sound bites mixes images from the Seoul Olympics with Korean folk rituals and modern dance. Smaller clips play simultaneously on multiple monitors, while larger, animated images flow across the boundaries between screens, suggesting a world without borders in the electronic age. Paik sorted the monitors into two distinct sections. The Megatron conveys the vast reach of the media, while the smaller section, the Matrix, emphasizes its impact on each of us. In Matrix, Paik arranged the monitors so that the images seem to spiral inward around a lone screen showing two partially nude women. He may be suggesting that our bodies are our primal connection to the world, but the effect on the viewer is of being assaulted by too much information. In the early 1960s, Paik began incorporating performance pieces with American dancers, musicians, and artists. Today, the fusion of pop music, commercial culture, and nationalist symbols captures Paik s story and that of millions around the world. Paik s prophetic awareness of the power of television has been borne out in our plugged-in age, when any kind of art or entertainment is available on our screens all the time. Conservation of this artwork was made possible through a generous grant provided by the Smithsonian Women s Committee. TV Clock 1963/1989 twenty-four fixed-image color television monitors mounted on twenty-four pedestals; color and black and white, silent Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California; Museum purchase with funds provided by the Grace Jones Richardson Trust, Lillian and Jon B. Lovelace, Leatrice and Eli Luria and the Luria Foundation, Zora and Les Charles and the Cheeryble Foundation, Wendy and Elliot Friedman, and Lord and Lady Ridley-Tree, a-x TV Clock is an early example of Nam June Paik s large-scale conceptual installations. The technique he employed to reduce the electronic image on the cathode-ray tube to a single line was developed in In TV Clock, each of the monitors shows the line in a different position describing 24 hours. Movement is arrested in this conceptual rendering of temporal change. Smithsonian American Art Museum Page 2 of 11

3 TV Garden 1974/2000 single-channel video installation with color television monitors and live plants; color, sound Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Purchased with funds contributed by the International Director s Council and Executive Committee Members: Ann Ames, Edythe Broad, Henry Buhl, Elaine Terner Cooper, Dimitris Daskalopoulos, Harry David, Gail May Engelberg, Ronnie Heyman, Dakis Joannou, Cindy Johnson, Barbara Lane, Linda Macklowe, Peter Norton, Willem Peppler, Denise Rich, Simonetta Seragnoli, David Teiger, Ginny Williams, and Elliot K. Wolk and through prior gift of the Bohen Foundation, TV Garden is one of Nam June Paik s most celebrated installations. He created an environment that combined plants with television monitors of all sizes on which he screened his videotape Global Groove (1973). Paik predicted that the electronic moving image would rapidly expand into an art form, and he saw the spread of television as offering new possibilities for artists. In this garden of televisions and plants, he expressed the idea of television s creative growth and utopian future. Moon Projection with E Moon and Birds 1996 three-channel video installation with five projectors; color, sound optional Nam June Paik created a number of installations employing projected video, in which he could shape the way the viewer saw rooms and in which he could create large-scale moving-image experiences. This piece was first shown in Brazil in 1996, and this is the first time it is being shown in the United States. He combined imagery of the moon and birds that he used in versions of TV Moon (1974), a multi-monitor installation. Here the images, which evoke the sky, hover above TV Garden installed nearby. Family of Robot: Baby 1986 single-channel video sculpture with television casing, thirteen television monitors, and aluminum armature; color, silent The Art Institute of Chicago; Gift of Society for Contemporary Art, Family of Robot: Baby, created in 1986, is part of a family that includes Mother, Father, Grandfather, and Grandmother. Unlike the parents and grandparents, who were fashioned out of old technology, Baby is made out of what were then new televisions. Like his sculpture Merce/Digital, the Family of Robot has real personality and brings a new material dimension to figurative sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum Page 3 of 11

4 Merce/Digital 1988 single-channel video sculpture with vintage television cabinets and fifteen monitors; color, silent Collection of Roselyne Chroman Swig The TV robots that Nam June Paik created, beginning with the Family of Robot in 1986, were fashioned out of old televisions and radios. They are distant relatives of his Robot K-456, the remote-controlled robot he made in They are an expression of Paik s interest in humanizing technology by giving consumer technology a human shape. Here he celebrates his good friend the choreographer Merce Cunningham. The TV Robots are also connected to the TV Cello and TV Bra for Living Sculpture, also on view in the gallery, created for Charlotte Moorman. TV Bra for Living Sculpture 1969 video tubes, televisions, rheostat, Plexiglas boxes, vinyl straps, foot switches, cables, and copper wire Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, One of Paik s primary ambitions was to humanize technology, and one of his bestknown pieces, TV Bra for Living Sculpture, was created for performance artist and collaborator Charlotte Moorman, who wore the TV Bra in performances. Like the TV Glasses, two small monitors that Paik made for her to wear as eyeglasses, the work transformed televisions into metaphors for everyday garments and materials. TV Cello 1971 video tubes, television chassis, fan, Plexiglas boxes, electronics, wiring, wood base, stool, and photograph Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Formerly the collection of Otto Piene and Elizabeth Goldring, Massachusetts, T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, Nam June Paik s fascination with video technology and musical instruments took a unique form in the TV Cello he created for the performance artist, musician, and collaborator Charlotte Moorman. Moorman was a classically trained cellist who became a leading interpreter of avant-garde music. Paik and Moorman began collaborating in Europe during the 1960s and ultimately had a long creative partnership. The frame of TV Cello is made out of television sets encased in Plexiglas boxes. Moorman created sounds as she drew her bow across the strings. You can see her performing in an excerpt from Paik s videotape Global Groove (1973), on view near the TV Cello. Smithsonian American Art Museum Page 4 of 11

5 Electronic Schematic Drawing for Paik-Abe Video Synthesizer 1969 pencil, colored pencil, and ink on paper Paik worked with the Japanese engineer Shuya Abe to develop the video synthesizer, a device for transforming and manipulating the recorded video image. Such an instrument did not exist until artists created it, leading the way for the electronic moving image to become a contemporary art form. Paik used the Paik-Abe Video Synthesizer to create his distinctive video mix and blend of colorized and manipulated effects. An early example on the screen shows 9/23/69: Experiment with David Atwood (1969), a videotape made with the Paik-Abe Video Synthesizer at WGBH, Boston. Magnet TV 1965 television set and magnet; black and white, silent Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from Dieter Rosenkranz, 86.60a b Nam June Paik made Magnet TV in 1965 after he moved from Germany to New York City. By placing a powerful magnet on the television set, he created abstract patterns on the screen. The position of the magnet was changed daily to create different patterns. Paik created a new visual language out of the electronic properties of the medium in this work, which was a forerunner to the video synthesizer he created a few years later. Media Sandwich phonograph records, German electronics magazines, and rotogravure print with additions in ink Media Sandwich occupies a special place and time in the artist s creative life. It incorporates phonograph records and technical manuals along with a print from 1832 by an anonymous artist depicting a town in Germany. Paik has written on the print: Media Sandwich , placing his birth year, 1932, within the history of media and recognizing the late 1950s and early 1960s as formative years in which he pursued his interest in the technologies of sound reproduction and the new medium of television. By incorporating the old print of the German town, Paik acknowledged the significance to him of Germany, where he was living at this time, before moving to the United States in Smithsonian American Art Museum Page 5 of 11

6 Zen for TV 1963/1982 manipulated television set; black and white, silent Marcel Odenbach Zen for TV is one of Nam June Paik s most celebrated and minimal pieces. He compressed the electronic light of the cathode-ray tube into a single line on the television screen, creating an object of contemplation with a Zen-like quality, in which the viewer observes a screen emptied of the moving image. The Zen for TV in the Museum s collection is different from the Zen for TV that the artist describes on the video screen, in which he turns the television set on its side; that version is on view here as well. Paik always tried new ways of expressing himself and explored different approaches to his original ideas. Random Access (Schallplattenschaschlik) 1963/1979 record player with lengthened axis, records, and movable pick-up arm Courtesy Vehbi Koç Foundation, Istanbul, on loan to the Neues Museum, Nuremberg This audio piece, made out of phonograph records, was featured in Nam June Paik s first one-artist exhibition, Exposition of Music Electronic Television, in Like Random Access, it is an interactive piece. Paik took the record player apart and created new sounds by running the arm of the record player over the grooves in the record. The work links Paik s interest in altering musical instruments with his transformation of the television set. Random Access 1963/2000 strips of audiotape, open-reel audio deck, extended playback head, and speakers Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Purchased with funds contributed by the International Director s Council and Executive Committee Members: Ann Ames, Edythe Broad, Henry Buhl, Elaine Terner Cooper, Dimitris Daskalopoulos, Harry David, Gail May Engelberg, Ronnie Heyman, Dakis Joannou, Cindy Johnson, Barbara Lane, Linda Macklowe, Peter Norton, Willem Peppler, Denise Rich, Simonetta Seragnoli, David Teiger, Ginny Williams and Elliot K. Wolk, Nam June Paik s 1963 show Exposition of Music Electronic Television included an innovative interactive audio installation as well as pianos and televisions. The viewer rubbed the head of an audiotape machine across audiotapes pasted to the wall so that Paik s early audio compositions could be heard through speakers that were detached from the audiotape player. This is just one example of the way Paik transformed technology to make it an interactive experience for the user. Smithsonian American Art Museum Page 6 of 11

7 Prepared Piano vintage piano (Alzinger-Brice Co.) prepared using various materials Courtesy Vehbi Koç Foundation, Istanbul, on loan to the Neues Museum, Nuremberg Nam June Paik had his first one-artist exhibition in 1963 at the avant-garde Galerie Parnass in Wuppertal, Germany. The title of the show was Exposition of Music Electronic Television, and it featured his altered televisions and his transformed musical instruments. Paik changed the appearance and the sounds produced by the Prepared Piano in the same way that he changed the received broadcast image and appearance of television sets. Untitled (Prepared Scroll) 1969/1974 collage of Asian wall scroll, photograph of Charlotte Moorman performing, and handwritten notes Peter Wenzel Collection Nam June Paik often referenced Asian culture and art in his work. He included Buddhas in his video installations, and in this artwork he used the tradition of the scroll to create a tribute to his collaborator Charlotte Moorman. Opus Paintings 1975 thirty-two paintings; oil on canvas The thirty-two canvases that make up the Opus Paintings are all variations on the theme of the TV screen. Paik, who turned video into an artist s medium, was fascinated by the iconographic power of the shape of the TV screen. The unsystematic arrangement of the paintings on the wall conveys Paik s interest in randomness and chance. Untitled, from the portfolio The New York Collection for Stockholm 1973 serigraph on paper Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Woodward Foundation, Nam June Paik was always looking toward the future in his artwork and writings. This print was created in 1973, the same year that he produced his videotape Global Groove. In that tape, he foresaw a future when TV Guide would be as thick as the Manhattan telephone directory. He envisioned video art being part of our homes and museums as well as being shown on television. Smithsonian American Art Museum Page 7 of 11

8 Whitney Buddha Complex: TV Rodin, Stone Buddha/Burnt TV, TV Buddha 1982 video installation with sculptural components; black and white, silent Marieluise Hessel Collection, Hessel Museum of Art, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, R A H TV Buddha is one of Nam June Paik s best-known artworks. Paik placed a statue of a Buddha in front of a monitor; the Buddha contemplated his own image through a video camera placed next to the monitor. Paik employed the closed-circuit property of video to create a Zen-like reflection on the experience of time. First created in 1974, the TV Buddha became a signature piece. In his 1982 exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Paik created a three-part piece showing a Buddha looking at the monitor under a burial mound; a Buddha contemplating a burnt TV; and Rodin s sculpture The Thinker watching TV on a Sony Watchman. Chinese Memory 2005 single-channel video installation with 21 television, television cabinet, and antenna, with acrylic paint and permanent oil-based markers, stacked books, Chinese scroll, and phonograph cover; color, silent Chinese Memory is a late work by the artist created after his stroke in 1996 and just before he passed away in It shows Paik reflecting on history and memory by combining videotape with objects that recall his early years. Untitled (Newspaper Drawings) 1990s oil stick on printed newsprint Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift to the Nam June Paik Archive from the Nam June Paik Estate Paik suffered a stroke in 1996 and made these drawings in the late 1990s. During these years, he continued his practice of watching television and reading the newspaper every day. He enjoyed keeping up with the news and directly commenting on the newspaper s contents by drawing and sketching over newsprint. This selection comes from a large body of newspaper drawings that are now part of the Nam June Paik Archive. About The Nam June Paik Archive The Nam June Paik Archive is made up of materials the artist assembled over the years in the ordered chaos of his studios. Paik actively used his collections; many objects became part of artworks. Following the artist s death, it took seven trailer trucks to transport his remaining collections to Washington, D.C. Smithsonian American Art Museum Page 8 of 11

9 Radios, televisions, video projectors, cameras, and audio- and videotape decks represent Paik s interest in the history of technology, while magazines capture Paik s ongoing interest in icons of the entertainment industry and celebrities. He was also interested in the playful, naïve aspect of toys, which he collected, and with the elaborate decoration of antiques, also included in the Archive. The Archive holds correspondence, writings, clippings, plans for exhibitions, commissions, and production schedules, which offer insight into his working methods and his varied interests, from cybernetics to current events. The selection of material on view in Nam June Paik: Global Visionary suggests the enormous importance of this Archive to artists, scholars, and curators researching the artist s creative life, as well as key developments in late twentieth-century art. Since the Archive materials have come to the museum, staff have begun to document and catalog the thousands of items, and in the process, have discovered both partial and completed artworks. Support for the Nam June Paik Archive was received from the Smithsonian s Collections Care and Preservation Fund. All artworks by Nam June Paik in the Archive and in the exhibition are. TV Chair 1968 closed-circuit video installation with television and chair; black and white, silent One of the distinctive features of video is that you can see what the camera is recording in real time on the monitor. Unlike film, you do not need to process the footage before screening it. Paik seized on this capacity to create sculptures that used the camera s point of view. In TV Chair the television screen is the seat of the chair, and the camera is positioned directly above the chair: whoever is sitting in the chair is on the screen but cannot see the screen. This playful piece explores point of view and the viewer s expectations of what will appear on the television screen. Untitled (Television) about 1970 oil stick on paper Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift to the Nam June Paik Archive from the Nam June Paik Estate Beginning in the 1970s, Nam June Paik drew spare and minimal pieces that explored the idea of the television set as an imaginary form. Painting on canvas or drawing on paper, the artist conveyed an imaginary television by likening it to the moon and evoking it with a few brushstrokes. This selection is related to the series of Opus Paintings on view in the gallery. Smithsonian American Art Museum Page 9 of 11

10 TV Crown I 1965/ manipulated television set with two audio generators, two amplifiers, and heat regulator; color, silent Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Purchased with funds contributed by the International Director s Council and Executive Committee Members: Ann Ames, Edythe Broad, Henry Buhl, Elaine Terner Cooper, Dimitris Daskalopoulos, Harry David, Gail May Engelberg, Ronnie Heyman, Dakis Joannou, Cindy Johnson, Barbara Lane, Linda Macklowe, Peter Norton, Willem Peppler, Denise Rich, Simonetta Seragnoli, David Teiger, Ginny Williams and Elliot K. Wolk, TV Crown is an early example of a work in which Nam June Paik manipulates the television to create a pattern on the screen. First created in 1965, at the time he made Magnet TV, these examples were re-created by the artist in They show his interest in abstraction and in exploring the electronic properties of the medium. My Best Video Dieter Roth 1966/1991 single-channel video with 27 television; black and white, sound When Nam June Paik lived in Germany, the German avant-garde artist Dieter Roth was a close friend. Roth called this video portrait by Paik from 1965 My Best Video. It is an early example of Paik s work with video, and its glitches and dropped soundtrack give it an immediate impact. This is the first time it has been shown in the United States. Smithsonian American Art Museum Page 10 of 11

11 Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii Forty-nine-channel closed-circuit video installation, neon, steel, and electronic components Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, [*Located in Lincoln Gallery, 3 rd floor, Smithsonian American Art Museum] Electronic Superhighway is Nam June Paik s tribute to the United States, his adopted homeland. Paik, born in Korea in 1932, moved to New York in 1964 and lived in America until his death in Though the outlines of the fifty states are familiar, Electronic Superhighway challenges the viewer to look with new eyes at the cultural map of the United States. Each state is represented by video footage reflecting the artist s personal, and often unexpected, associations with the place. He celebrated some states for their connections to his artistic friends and collaborators composer John Cage in Massachusetts, performance artist Charlotte Moorman in Arkansas, and choreographer Merce Cunningham in Washington. Some states he knew best through classic movies The Wizard of Oz appears for Kansas, Showboat for Mississippi, and South Pacific for Hawaii. Sometimes he chose video clips or assembled flickering slideshows that evoke familiar associations, such as the Kentucky Derby, Arizona highways, and presidential candidates campaigning in Iowa. Topical events such as the fires of the 1993 Waco siege or Atlanta s 1996 summer Olympics create portraits of moments in time. Old black-and-white television footage and audio of Martin Luther King s speeches recall Civil Rights struggles in Alabama. California has the fastest-paced imagery: racing though the Golden Gate Bridge, the zeroes and ones of the digital revolution, and a fitness class led by O.J. Simpson. A mini-cam capture images of Superhighway s viewers and transmits those images to a tiny screen representing Washington, D.C., making visitors a part of the story. Nam June Paik is hailed as the father of video art and credited with the first use of the term information superhighway in the 1970 s. He recognized the potential for media collaboration among people in all parts of the world, and he knew that media would completely transform our lives. Electronic Superhighway constructed of 336 televisions, 50 DVD players, 3,750 feet of cable, and 575 feet of multicolored neon tubing is a testament to the ways media defined one man s understanding of a diverse nation. Smithsonian American Art Museum Page 11 of 11