Random Access

Known to an international audience primarily through his video installations and video sculptures, Nam June Paik’s oeuvre would have been inconceivable were it not for his involvement with the music of the 20th century. Paik appeared in various performances with other Fluxus artists and, in the late 1950s, began to sound out possible modes for visualising music, whilst treating musical instruments as objects with visual qualities as well. He was concerned with the perception of sound and image, and in his works, he manipulated objects and technologies in a way that allowed the audience to communicate through them, and to become involved in them as active participants.

Built around the notion of randomly selected music, Nam June Paik’s "Random Access" presents an altered vinyl record player, making it possible to play at any time any one of the numerous records positioned at various levels along its elongated axis.