Nam June Paik is considered to be the founder of video art due to his artworks with variety electronics. The artworks and ideas through fusion of art and technique, brought a new era of art. We still miss him and get new inspirations from Paik’s marks.
Under the name of 'Nam June Paik's 90th birthday,' several exhibitions commemorating him are being held simultaneously in various places in Korea.
Nam June Paik(NJP) Art Center in Yongin is now exhibiting two special exhibitions.
On March, NJP Art Center opened ‘Archaeology of Avantgarde’ composed of the most memorable 10 scenes of Paik’s art life. Starting with Nam June Paik’s laser work in 2000, our memories go back to Paik installing a work at the Venice Biennale in 1993, Paik conducting Good Morning Mr. Orwell in 1984, and Paik as a young man in the 1960s.
“This exhibition starts from the curiosity of how would Nam June Paik have confidently created a new path in the midst of the pandemic and the beginning of metaverse?” said NJP Art Ceter official.
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| ▲ Sistine Chapel / Courtesy of NJP Art Center |
Another special exhibition of Nam June Paik ‘Nam June Paik, Super Baroque’ opened at July 20th that is his birthday. The exhibition filled with Paik’s media installations and lights which were hard to face in Korea. One of notable artwork of exhibition is Homage to Baroque Laser, which is recreated Nam June Paik’s installation Baroque Laser. Baroque Laser is the laser projection installed in 1995 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of German architect Johann Conrad Schlaun. In addition to this, Video Chandelier No.1, Three Elements series, Candle TV and Sistine Chapel which was unveiled at the 1993 Venice Biennale when Paik was awarded the Golden Lion for best national representation are presented.
From July 28 to August 30, Pocheon Cultural Foundation exhibits ‘Look Far Away : Television of Nam June Paik’ which was co-organized with Nam June Paik Cultural Foundation. Main works of 1990s ; M200, Video Chandelier No.4 and other artworks presented with drawings and printings.
The Municipal museums of Korea are also ready to exhibit Nam June Paik’s artworks.
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| ▲ Turtle / Courtesy of Ulsan Art Museum |
Ulsan Art Museum running exhibition entitled ‘Turtle, The Avatar of Earth’ from July 28 to September 23. One of Ulsan Art Museum’s collection Turtle is presented for this exhibition. Turtle is the large-scale video installation consists of 166 TV monitors in the shape of a turtle which was made in 1993 at Germany. This is the Paik’s remarkable piece that shows his unique conception of art.
“We seek to demonstrate how cutting-edge art can be connected as an ‘anthropology’ to a worldview formed through a long history, through Turtle, a manifestation of ‘land.’” Ulsan art Museum official said.
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| ▲ Fractal Turtle Ship / Courtesy of Daejeon Museum of Art |
The More The Better is also ready to exhibits, which was shut down since 2018 due to it’s technical issues. “Through restoration and test running, it will start operating at September,” National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Gwacheon said. The More The Better is the video tower that created in 1988 to celebrate the Seoul Olympics. The tower is comprised of 1,003 monitors. The More The Better comes into its own as the most monumental artwork by Paik. This is because the tower show combines ‘Asia and Western’ and ‘arts and techniques’.
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