THE LYCEUM

Nam June Paik

Nam June Paik (1932-2006) was a South Korean artist often considered to be the founder of video art.

He is also the first to coin the term “electronic superhighway” to describe the World Wide Web!

An esteemed member of the avant-garde Fluxus movement, Paik was inspired by composers of his age, such as John Cage, to create “action music”. Action music combines objects with theatrical performances of sight and sound.

Later, in 1963, Paik began to produce video art. The increased influence of technology was controversial at this time, and fears that technology would replace humans were especially rampant. Through video art, Paik wanted to show how technology could connect, not destroy, the bonds between members of humanity.

Osias states: “He’s the father of video art. Video is an experimental way to express art with technological means.”

Meanwhile, Paik himself stated about technology: “Half-and-half is good. You cannot deny that high-tech is progress. We need it for jobs. Yet if you make only high-tech, you make war. So we must have strong human element to keep modesty and natural life.”

Paik also married Japanese artist Shigeko Kubota. After being paralysed due to a stroke in 1996, he died to a second stroke on January 29, 2006, aged 73. He was survived by his wife, brother, and nephew.

Learn More About Paik
Selected Works
  • Electronic Superhighway (1995): Paik’s most renowned work, one of the most famous video art pieces of all time. Electronic Superhighway is a response to the emergence of a variety of communications technologies: television, video, satellites, microwaves, the internet. Paik saw the United States as connected not just by physical highways, but by the rapid power of electricity.
  • Participation TV (1963): This blend between video and performance art blurred the boundaries between categories of art. The piece allows viewers to speak into a microphone, creating moving patterns of light on a TV screen.
  • Ommah (2005): This video sculpture features an Ommah, a traditional robe, lain over videos of Korean-American girls partaking in traditional activities. The juxtaposition of tradition, the contemporary, and the constructed synthesis of both presents a complex view of cultural heritage.
Nam June Paik’s Electronic Superhighway (1995), courtesy of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.

Discussion Questions

  1. Watch the video for Electronic Superhighway, or look at an image.
    • How would you describe the piece’s medium (i.e: what materials did Paik use to make this artwork?)
    • How does this artwork make you feel?
    • What do you think Paik is trying to tell us about the United States ?
    • Why do you think this piece is titled Electronic Superhighway? What details lead you to that conclusion?
  2. How do you think music can contribute to visual art? Vice versa?
  3. Do you think Paik is right about technology? Why or why not?
This artist was submitted by Osias Magaoay, Graduate of University of California, Davis, Artist in Sacramento.

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