Paik, Nam June

born July 20, 1932, Seoul, Korea

Korean-born U.S. sculptor and video and performance artist.

He studied music at the Universities of Tokyo and Munich and came to the U.S. in 1964. Inspired by Joseph Beuys and John Cage, he joined the Fluxus group. He is considered the father of video art. His sophisticated video displays, such as TV Buddha (1974), an installation with a Buddha contemplating himself on television, were seen as uniquely appropriate to the Information Age, in which fascination with electronic media has replaced spirituality. Prolific in many media, he was honoured with many major retrospectives in the late 20th century.

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▪ 2007

 Korean-born composer, performer, and artist (b. July 20, 1932, Seoul, Korea [now in South Korea]—d. Jan. 29, 2006, Miami Beach, Fla.), was from the early 1960s one of Postmodern art's most provocative and innovative figures. He studied art and music history at the University of Tokyo before moving to West Germany, where he continued his studies (1956–58) at the University of Munich. In the late 1950s, while working in West German Radio's electronic music studio in Cologne, Paik met American avant-garde composer John Cage, whose inventive compositions and unorthodox ideas proved to be a major influence on Paik. His exhibition “Exposition of Music/Electronic Television,” held in Wuppertal, W.Ger., in 1963, marked the first time anyone had used video as an artistic medium. The next year Paik moved to New York City and began a fruitful collaboration with avant-garde cellist Charlotte Moorman. In a well-publicized incident in 1967, Moorman, playing topless, and Paik were arrested for public indecency at the opening of his four-part Opera Sextronique. In the following years Paik made art-quality videos, including Global Groove (1973), and produced video sculptures and installations. The most notable of these were TV Buddha (1974), TV Garden (1974–78), and Family of Robot (1986). Paik's 1997 video opera performance Coyote 3 at the Anthology Film Archives in New York featured a disconcerting mixture of multiple television screens, laser lights, and smoke. Paik was honoured with a large-scale retrospective of his work at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1982. Starting with Good Morning Mr. Orwell (1984), he produced a number of groundbreaking live satellite-broadcast shows, emphasizing the need for communication between the East and the West through the exchange of art and culture. From the late 1970s Paik divided his time between the U.S. and Germany, teaching at the Düsseldorf State Academy of Art.

▪ 1998

      Throughout his career Korean-born contemporary artist Nam June Paik had been variously described by critics as a sculptor, a performance artist, and the father of video art. Some preferred to call him a visionary world traveler. What almost every critic agreed on, however, was that since the early 1960s Paik consistently had been one of Postmodern art's most provocative and innovative figures. Because he had performed infrequently in recent years, Paik's video opera performance Coyote 3 at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City aroused considerable interest in 1997. Typical of Paik's shows, Coyote 3 featured a disconcerting mixture of multiple television screens, laser lights, and smoke. Accompanied by two fellow performers, Paik played piano and sang fragments of songs from the diverse places to which he had traveled. The overall effect, as one reviewer put it, was that of a world in which the "irrational is given as much importance as the rational."

      Paik was born on July 20, 1932, in Seoul. He studied art and music history at the University of Tokyo before moving to West Germany, where he continued his studies at the University of Munich (1956-58). In the late 1950s, while working in the studio for elektronische Musik in Cologne, Paik met American avante-garde composer John Cage, whose inventive compositions and unorthodox ideas would prove to be a major influence on Paik.

      Paik's 1963 exhibition Exposition of Music/Electronic Television, held in Wuppertal, W.Ger., marked the first time anyone had used video as an artistic medium. The next year Paik moved to New York City and began a fruitful collaboration with avant-garde cellist Charlotte Moorman. In a well-publicized incident, Moorman, playing topless, and Paik were arrested for public indecency at the opening of his four-part Opera Sextronique in 1967.

      In the following years Paik made art-quality videos, including Global Groove (1973), and produced video sculptures and installations. The most notable of these were TV Buddha (1974), TV Garden (1974-78), and Family of Robot (1986).

      Paik was honoured by a large-scale retrospective of his work at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1982. Starting with Good Morning Mr. Orwell (1984), he produced a number of groundbreaking live satellite-broadcast shows, emphasizing the need for communication between the East and West through the exchange of art and culture.

      From the late 1970s Paik divided his time between the U.S. and Germany, teaching at the Düsseldorf State Academy of Art. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Film Institute's Maya Deren Award for Independent Film and Video Artists, South Korea's Ho-Am Prize, and most recently the Goethe Medal, an award given to non-German artists for outstanding creative achievement.

TAEHI KANG

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▪ composer, performer, and artist

born July 20, 1932, Seoul, Korea [now South Korea]

died Jan. 29, 2006, Miami Beach, Fla., U.S.

 Korean-born composer, performer, and artist who was from the early 1960s one of postmodern art's most provocative and innovative figures.

      Paik studied art and music history at the University of Tokyo before moving to West Germany, where he continued his studies (1956–58) at the University of Munich. In the late 1950s, while working in West German Radio's electronic music studio in Cologne, Paik met American avant-garde composer John Cage (Cage, John), whose inventive compositions and unorthodox ideas had a major influence on the budding artist. He also became involved during this time with the group Fluxus.

      Paik's exhibition “Exposition of Music/Electronic Television,” held in Wuppertal, W.Ger., in 1963, marked the first time anyone had used video as an artistic medium. The next year Paik moved to New York City and began a fruitful collaboration with cellist and performance artist Charlotte Moorman. In a well-publicized incident in 1967, Paik and a bare-breasted Moorman, playing Paik's Cello Sonata No. 1 for Adults Only, were arrested for public indecency at the opening of his four-part Opéra Sextronique. In the following years Paik made a number of videos, including Global Groove (1973), and produced video sculptures and installations. Among the most notable of these were TV Buddha (1974), TV Garden (1974–78), and Family of Robot (1986). In 1982 the Whitney Museum of American Art held a large-scale retrospective of Paik's work. Starting with Good Morning, Mr. Orwell (1984), he produced a number of groundbreaking live satellite-broadcast shows that among other things emphasized the need for communication between the East and the West through the exchange of art and culture. He created The More the Better (1988), 1,003 television sets playing videos from a variety of artists on Korean subjects, for the Olympic Games held in Seoul. In 1996 he suffered a stroke. Paik's video opera performance Coyote 3 (1997), at the Anthology Film Archives in New York, featured a disconcerting mixture of multiple television screens, laser lights, and smoke. From the late 1970s Paik had divided his time between the United States and Germany, where he taught at the Düsseldorf State Academy of Art.

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