A historical exhibition of videos by Nam June Paik, curated by Lori Zippay, as part of a project paying tribute to the artist, titled À Espera do Século 22: Uma Presença Virtual no Videobrasil 96 (Awaiting the 22nd Century: A Virtual Presence at Videobrasil 96). The selection covers Paik’s earliest phase, featuring videos made from 1965 to 1972.
artists
Works
Curator's text Lori Zippay, 1996
The Beatles, McLuhan & The TV-Cello: The Early Videotapes of Paik
In search of art, the firsts attempts to reinvent a new language, in a conference about Paik New Age Pioneers Nam June Paik's 1973 videotape Global Groove, and the remarkable series of tapes that followed in the next decade, are recognized as classics of the medium. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Paik was already conducting radical experiments with video and television, using the raw materials of the medium -- from the electronic signal to TV commercials -- as a creative syntax. Richly inventive and ironic, if at times technically crude, these seminal experiments reveal Paik's earliest attempts to manipulate and re-invent the language of television as art. This historical program will present a selection of Paik's videotapes from this very early period. Recorded between 1965 and 1972, these works trace a fascinating moment in the evolution of Paik's work, as he moved from performance and sculpture to video and television. They form a link between his Fluxus-based works of the 1950s and 60s and the celebrated tapes and multi-media installations of recent years. From manipulated television imagery to electronic abstractions, from performances with Charlotte Moorman to pop cultural icons, these works chart a virtual catalogue of Paik's unique technical and conceptual investigations that culminated in the production of Global Groove. This program concludes with a screening of that classic work.
ASSOCIAÇÃO CULTURAL VIDEOBRASIL, "11th Videobrasil": 12th to 17th November 1996, pp.53, São Paulo, Brazil, 1996.