Smithsonian American Art Museum presents Nam June Paik. Global Visionary from Dec. 13 through Aug. 11, 2013.
The artwork and ideas of Nam June Paik were a major influence on late 20th-century art and continue to inspire a new generation of artists. “Nam June Paik: Global Visionary” will offer an unprecedented view into the artist’s creative method by featuring key artworks that convey Paik’s extraordinary accomplishments as a major international artist as well as material drawn from the Nam June Paik Archive, which was acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum from the artist’s estate in 2009.
The exhibition includes nearly 70 artworks and more than 120 items from the archive. Several rare artworks borrowed from private and public collections in the United States and abroad, including “Urmusik” (1961) from Museum Moderner Kunst in Vienna, “TV Garden” (1974) from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and “Whitney Buddha Complex” (1982) from the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College will be presented. Paik’s rarely seen installation “Moon Projection with E Moon and Birds” (1996), on loan from the Paik Estate, will be on display. Three exceptional artworks from the museum’s collection will be included: “Zen for TV” (1963/1976), “Megatron/Matrix” (1995) and “Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii” (1995).
“Nam June Paik: Global Visionary” will offer the extraordinary range of the artist’s accomplishments and the complexity of his ideas. It will feature his personal history through thematic groupings that draw on the resources of the Nam June Paik Archive. Paik’s writings and the materials he collected reveal the influences of Asian and Western philosophy, as well as developments in technology and science. The museum will use these materials to show the development of his innovative and radical conceptualization of the future roles of communication technologies in the expanding global media culture.
Korean-born Paik (1932-2006), known as the “father of video art,” almost single-handedly transformed video into an artist’s medium through his sculptures, installations, videotapes and television projects. Paik is recognized worldwide for his innovative, media-based artwork that is grounded in the practices of avant-garde music and performance art. His art and ideas embodied a radical new vision for an art form that he knew would be embraced around the world and that would change visual culture.
Museum information (recorded): (202) 633-7970. Smithsonian Information: (202) 633-1000. Website: americanart.si.edu