Media and technological penetration was his métier – Nam June Paik's life comes to the big screen

In retrospect, it can be said that Nam June Paik was far ahead of his time and coined the term "Information Superhighway" when the internet was still little more than a vague idea. The artist, who died in 2006, a year before the first iPhone was released, leaves behind a significant and multifaceted legacy, which is now being comprehensively documented for the first time.

The cinematic biography of the video artist, titled NAM JUNE PAIK: MOON IS THE OLDEST TV,

In this film, Korean-American filmmaker Amanda Kim Nam June Paik's career – from his studies in Munich and the harsh rejections he faced at the beginning of his career to the success of his TV Buddha and Paik's canonization as the father of video art . Fascinating archival footage of all of Paik's works and interviews with many of his contemporaries create a compelling and well-rounded portrait of a groundbreaking artist who seemed to foresee the internet. The film is produced and distributed by GRANDFILM , an independent film distributor specializing in artistically valuable cinema.

Born in Japanese-occupied Korea, Paik and his family were forced to flee the country in 1950 due to the Korean War – a circumstance that profoundly influenced his artistic work. His early works, including the 1963 exhibition "Exposition of Music-Electronic Television" in West Germany featuring manipulated television sets, initially failed to garner recognition.

Nevertheless, he developed rapidly over the following ten years, creating iconic installations such as TV Buddha , which enjoy worldwide acclaim today. His significance as a video artist, technology visionary, and creator of floor-to-ceiling television tower sculptures has not yet been fully documented.

Therefore, the upcoming film release in Germany represents a first milestone in making his work accessible to a wider audience. With remarkable success, as 6 million people in South Korea alone watched the one-hour special broadcast.

Nam June Paik's artistic philosophy

Nam June Paik 's artistic vision arose from a complex relationship with the technology of his time. He was not simply a user of new media. Rather, he saw himself as a critical shaper of emerging electronic possibilities.

Technology as a tool and object of criticism

Paik recognized the creative potential of television early on and strove to..

"To design the TV screen as precisely as Leonardo, as freely as Picasso, as colorful as Renoir and as profoundly as Mondrian.".

"humanize" technology and reveal its intimate connection to the human body.

In his 1964 work "Robot K-456," Paik created a deliberately slovenly-looking humanoid figure that could walk, play sounds, and even urinate. At an exhibition at the Whitney Museum, he had the robot run over by a car on Madison Avenue. This was a staged event through which he explored the capacity of technology to both help and harm.

I use technology to hate it.”

This famous quote by Paik illustrates his ambivalent stance. For him, television was a "dictatorial medium" where the upper classes speak to the lower classes, who can only listen and answer "yes." "I think talking back is what democracy means ," he explained, and understood his art as an attempt "to enter into a dialogue with television .

Although Paik loved entertainment and pop culture, he incorporated them into his work and fundamentally transformed them. He strove to use telecommunications technologies to disseminate art and enable collaboration across vast distances.

Humor as a means of provocation

As a key figure in the Fluxus movement, Paik strategically employed humor to challenge traditional societal values ​​and institutional art. His spectacular and provocative performances are considered representative works of this movement. In doing so, he continuously questioned existing frameworks and presented sophisticated, revolutionary ideas in a humorous way.

For Paik, humor was not just entertainment, but an effective tool for dealing with contemporary issues. His witty yet revolutionary attacks on institutions, rules, and norms created space for change.

Because no matter how difficult the situation may be, humor could in some way create space for change.”,

That could be his legacy.

The most important works at a glance

Nam June Paik's groundbreaking artworks redefined the relationship between humans and technology. Known as the "father of video art ," he created installations that continue to influence the media landscape today.

TV Buddha and the connection between East and West

TV Buddha (1974) is one of Paik's most iconic installations. A Buddha statue contemplates its own image on a television screen, captured by a camera in real time. This closed loop symbolizes self-reflection in a media-saturated world. As the Buddha—a symbol of Eastern wisdom—observes itself in the Western medium of television, a cultural bridge is created.

Remarkably, when viewers approach the screen, they also appear in the image, thus creating an “electronic environment that is not closed and encourages audience participation”.

Global Groove and the Democratization of the Media

With Global Groove (1973), Paik created a groundbreaking work of early video art. This 28-minute electronic collage begins with the prophetic words: “This is a glimpse into the video landscape of tomorrow, when you can switch to any television channel on Earth .” Produced with John Godfrey at the WNET studio, the work blends traditional Korean dances with American rock, Japanese Pepsi commercials with Navajo chants, and performances by John Cage and Allen Ginsberg.

The use of the video synthesizer developed by Paik with Shuya Abe was technically revolutionary, as it produced visual effects similar to today's video mashup.

Electronic Superhighway: A vision becomes reality

Electronic Superhighway: Continental US, Alaska, Hawaii (1995) embodies Paik's vision of a global communications network. The gigantic installation consists of 336 television sets, 50 video players, over 1,100 meters of cable, and 175 meters of multicolored neon tubes.

Each US state is outlined by neon lines and displays specific video clips – for example, scenes from “Oklahoma!” for Oklahoma or footage of the Civil Rights Movement for Alabama. For Washington, D.C., Paik installed a camera that shows visitors in real time – an indication of how media shapes our self-perception and how others perceive us.

Nam June Paik's works in museums worldwide

Paik's influence is reflected in the worldwide presence of his works. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum houses TV Garden (1974/2000), an installation in which monitors playing Global Groove are placed among living plants. The Smithsonian American Art Museum displays Electronic Superhighway as well as Megatron/Matrix (1995).

His works are also represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Australia, and the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. His most recent traveling exhibition, "The Future Is Now," opened at Tate Modern in London in 2019 and subsequently travelled to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

A life between cultures and systems

Nam June Paik's fragmented life reflects the political upheavals of the 20th century. As a child in Japanese-occupied Korea, he witnessed teachers forcing students to "repent" if they spoke their native language.

Identity as a Korean, an American, a global citizen

As a “citizen of Korea, a minority nation on a minority continent,” Paik described himself as a “necessarily cynical observer” who, during “18 years of wandering from Hong Kong to Cairo to Reykjavik,” learned three Western and three Eastern languages. This border-crossing existence made him “particularly sensitive to the East-West problem .” After fleeing during the Korean War, he lived abroad for more than three decades and described his daily life as a “communication problem.”

Artistic response to political systems

Paik's works, such as "Guadalcanal Requiem" (1977/1979) and "Good Morning Mr. Orwell" (1984), clearly demonstrate his political stance. The live broadcast of "Good Morning Mr. Orwell" was shown simultaneously in the USA, France, Germany, and South Korea—as a counterpoint to George Orwell's dystopian visions. Paik was convinced that technology and rock music posed the greatest threat to state communism.

Return to Korea and fear of repression

Upon his return to Korea in 1984, Paik seemed unusually anxious and uncertain about how he would be received. Nevertheless, he was greeted like a national hero. This homecoming inspired a new phase of introspection.

He created a commissioned work for the 1988 Summer Olympics and subsequently used his international contacts to connect Korea with the world. He was instrumental in the founding of the Gwangju Biennale in 1995 and the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Influence on today's media culture

Paik's prophetic visions of the media landscape are manifesting themselves more clearly today than ever before. His experimental video collages of the 1970s anticipated the visual language of our digital present.

From MTV to TikTok: Paik's visual language lives on

The “father of video art” shaped the aesthetics of MTV with his rapid cuts and psychedelic colors. His 1973 work, Global Groove, however, anticipated far more – namely, a world in which “every artist would have their own channel” – a precise prediction of YouTube and social media. Young content creators today are astonished to discover that Paik was already using techniques in the 1970s that they consider original.

Reception in pop culture

Paik's satellite productions reached millions of viewers – "Good Morning Mr. Orwell" alone was watched by 25 million people worldwide. He collaborated with luminaries such as David Bowie, Lou Reed, and the Philip Glass Ensemble. His installation "Electronic Superhighway," featuring 336 television sets and cultural references for each US state, anticipated the fragmented communication of today's meme culture by establishing pop-cultural snippets as an independent form of communication.

What today's artists can learn from Paik

Paik's inquisitive, experimental approach remains exemplary. Instead of using technology solely for a specific purpose, he encouraged the "taking apart" and rethinking of technological possibilities. He understood technology as a "double-edged sword" and yet used it to connect and communicate with people.

His works are now exhibited at Tate Modern, SFMOMA and other leading museums, where they continue to attract a young audience and inspire numerous social media posts.

Anyone who wants to take an hour out of the constant and exhausting pull of the media landscape, in order to gain a multifaceted and critical perspective from an artistic distance, should definitely mark the cinema release on September 11th in their calendar.”

All information about the documentary and the German theatrical release can be found on the GRANDFILM project page .