Nam June Paik
Watching the piece with Merce Cunningham, as well as Paik’s video film concert was really interesting. I’ve truly never seen anything like it before. I found both to be quite bizarre, yet mesmerizing. I couldn’t seem to look away. Paik’s video films were almost relaxing, with the visuals playing over the classical music. The Merce Cunningham piece was a bit more overwhelming. The visuals in the background of Paik’s broadcast, plus the sounds, and Cunningham’s dancing all together was a lot. I found it very intriguing, but hard to follow with everything going on all at once. That was definitely part of the idea though, to make the viewer uncomfortable and unsettled. Nam June Paik is considered the father of video and installation art. He saw technology as a way to open up the world and to share art with everyone, beyond borders and cultural differences (Tate, 0:28-0:35). His “goal was to eliminate traditional music and performance practices altogether” (Decker-Philips 28). Paik cre...
