The Worlds of Nam June Paik
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
February 11 - April 26, 2000
SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
1071 Fifth Avenue, New York City
www.guggenheim.org
Updated 04.07.2019
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
February 11 - April 26, 2000
The Worlds of Nam June Paik is the first American retrospective of the Korean-born multimedia artist since 1982. This exhibition brings together the major artworks that define Nam June Paik's singular achievement. Through his sculptures, installations, videotapes, and projects for television, Nam June Paik recognized and realized the potential of video to become an artist's medium. The exhibition allows audiences to experience the numerous ways in which Nam June Paik has treated the electronic moving image and expanded the definition of sculpture and installation art over the past four decades. The exhibition explores the crucial role Nam June Paik has played in changing visual and media culture.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is a spectacular site-specific installation, Modulations in Synch (2000). It features laser projections cast onto the Rotunda ceiling, as well as laser projections that pass through an actual seven-story waterfall cascading from the top of the museum to the Rotunda floor. On the floor of the Rotunda will be an installation that employs more than 100 television sets facing upwards, displaying a pulsing mix of Nam June Paik's video imagery. This dramatic merging of lasers and video can be viewed all along the ramps that circle the Rotunda, offering the viewer multiple perspectives on the work.
On the ramps is a selection of Nam June Paik's seminal video installations from the 1960s and 70s, including The Moon Is the Oldest TV (1965-76), TV Garden (1974-78), and Video Fish (1975), as well as groupings of important smaller-scale sculptures. Several of Nam June Paik's early prepared televisions such as Magnet TV (1965) and performance pieces such as TV Cello (1971) are also on view in the Tower Gallery. A selection of the artist's laser sculptures are installed in the High Gallery.
The exhibition has been organized by John G. Hanhardt, Senior Curator of Film and Media Arts, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, with Jon Ippolito, Assistant Curator of Media Arts, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition. Published by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and distributed through Harry N. Abrams, Inc., it includes an essay by John G. Hanhardt, along with a selection of Nam June Paik's own writings
1071 Fifth Avenue, New York City
www.guggenheim.org
Updated 04.07.2019
