Hey everyone! It’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month so I’m ready to go off the rails and talk about something that has been on my mind forever, and that is the wonderful and confusing world of video arts! Most of the time, we see video arts in museum and gallery settings, places that are typically visited to view paintings, sculptures, and other physical objects. So how did video art earn a place in these traditional spaces and how does this tie in to Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month?
Well, it’s all thanks to Korean American artist Nam June Paik! The second half of the 20th century saw large innovations when it came to home entertainment, becoming a popular pastime of millions. Along with the growing popularity of movies and other visual media, Sony released an affordable video camera allowing everyday people to become directors, something previously only available to large corporations. Both Paik and Andy Warhol took this innovation and created consumable Avant Garde video masterpieces, but where Warhol recorded performance art, Paik created something entirely different.
As a member of the Fluxus movement alongside George Maciunas, Joseph Beuys, and Yoko Ono, Paik was an innovator of modern “anti art.” Fluxus was experimental, international, and emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Honestly, the Dadaists would be proud. Ironically for the members who believed that naming the movements was reductive and were against museums, they wanted art to be easily accessible. That meant it couldn’t stay away from museums and galleries for too long. Paik, along with Japanese engineer Shuya Abe, constructed an early video synthesizer that allowed Paik to manipulate images. This invention is what allowed Paik to create monumental visual works that paved the way for future video artists.
Paik’s first solo exhibition took place in Germany in 1963 where he exhibited thirteen manipulated televisions setting the stage for his later works. By 1965, Paik released a video of Pope Paul VI during a visit to New York that he stated was indeed art, becoming one of the first works produced using video as the medium. This led to monumental works by the artist including Megatron/Matrix, Electronic Superhighway, and a massive video installation piece titled The More the Better in honor of the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. This monumental work is comprised of 1,003 monitors stacked approximately 60ft tall. This work is now displayed at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Gwacheon, South Korea where it is undergoing repairs and restorations as the components of this work, and others of Paik’s, become burnt out or obsolete.
There is a sense of beauty now that these old video works and installations begin to break down. The purpose was originally to show the quick advancements of technology, now as monitors begin to burn out and parts need replacing, these works made in the 20th Century seem to be seceding to newer 21st Century technology. Technology is pretty crazy huh?
