TV and Video Pioneer in arts

… remembering Nam-Jun Paik

Charlotte Moorman in concert Paik So langweilig wei moglich (part1) via ubu web.


Just some examples of his multi-layered work which started out from Fluxus attitude but was entirely dedicated to an artistic research into new media adaption – including audio works – and especially to the influencing medium of his time: television (link: TV Buddha and McLuhan Caged).

From a review on a retrospective review about a show at the Guggenheim in 2000

Real Fish/Live Fish (1982) consists of two vintage televisions that have been disemboweled. One is filled with water, live fish, and wavering plants; on the other, a

simultaneous image of the same fish is projected in closed-circuit video. Is it any wonder that the real fish seem slightly less fascinating than their video counterparts? The robotic sets, with their rounded screens looming like enormous, one-eyed heads, add to our sense of the medium’s parasitical quality.
Unearthing television’s spiritual dimension and subversive potential: Real Fish/Live Fish (1982) photo: Robin Holland

link

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