Intermedia Theater

Nam June Paik was a leading figure in the 1960s Fluxus movement. Fluxus was the root of his artistic sprit. In 1997, Paik planned a concert titled “A Celebration of Arts without Borders” in memory of the movement. Ben Patterson presented his new work, Message to Nam June Paik, in the NJP Art Center in 2010. The ‘living fluxus’ running through the borders between our life and arts is still in effect.

Participation TV

Participation TV is one of the thirteen TV sets shown in Paik’s first solo exhibition in 1963. Here, only the viewer’s participation, that is, speaking sound into an attached microphone, can produce wildly moving patterns of lines of light on the TV screen. By using the technique of manipulating electronic circuits inside the TV, Paik showed the possibility of randomly changing the TV screen and communicating with it. He appreciated that this video art injected some new blood into happening and performance art. This meeting between new media, which had been regarded as non-art, and traditional forms of art initiated a bold experiment to blur the boundary of arts.

Elephant Cart

Nam June Paik put many communication devices which he could remember, such as antique television sets, radios, telephones, gramophone speakers, on a big cart with the sitting Buddha pulled by an elephant. The cart and the elephant are connected with red electric wires and the televisions in the rear show elephants playing soccer.

It seems that the cart filled with televisions and radios disseminates information along the direction where the elephant goes. This assemblage of old objects and new media makes the viewer to reflect back on the past days and to reconsider the ways of today’s communication.

Three Elements

A laser beam moves constantly with a high speed and attracts our eyes to the infinite space and time. The various patterns of spaces created by lasers are dynamic, mysterious, and beautiful. Lasers show a new possibility of space and time, that is, non-linear time and space with which Paik experimented throughout his lifetime, using various media including music, television, and video.
Lasers are a high frequency lighting device used as a means of communication or information transmission that still has a great possibility of development. The laser works by Paik with which he experimented until his last moment could be called ‘post-video’ which lies in the extension of the theme that the artist pursued through video art, reorganizing space and time with the power of light and energy.