The Nam June Paik Art Center opened the first Nam June Paik Media Art Festival, "Nam June Paik's Planet" (Waiting for UFO), on the 16th. The museum, operated by the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation, is located in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. It is the first media art festival to carry the name of Nam June Paik (1932-2006). The 20th anniversary of his death served as the starting point.
The special exhibitions "Stars, Trigrams" and "Moons" sit at the center, and around them turn performances, academic events, a technology lab, and programs that visitors handle themselves. The theme is the universe that Paik imagined by tying stars, planets, satellites, and media networks into one.
"Stars, Trigrams" is made up of 21 works by Paik. It runs through February 14, 2027.
One work has come to Korea for the first time. It is the 1991 piece "Spaceship Bound for Virtual Venus." Neon is wound around an aluminum frame, and 36 13-inch televisions are attached to it. The piece had been held by the Taikang Art Museum in China.
The "Waiting for UFO" in the title comes from an outdoor sculpture presented at the Storm King Art Center in New York in 1992. It is a sculpture with a body in the shape of a television set, on which a Buddha statue sits, artificial flowers are placed, and a bronze mask cast from Paik's face hangs. A video of that work standing outdoors is included in "Stars, Trigrams."
Cathode-ray tubes are consumables. As tubes age, the color drains from the screen, and parts disappear from the market. A media art museum has to power up its works and run them each time rather than laying them down in storage, and every time they are switched on the originals wear down a little. The choice to mark the 20th anniversary with a festival carries the intention of accepting that burden.
The special exhibition "Moons" is made up of works by young artists. "Nam June Paik Birthday Gut," an homage to Paik's shamanic ritual performances, will also be held. Paik's way of dragging a gong and ritual implements over next to a television returns to the stage.
Notations of the festival period differ. The schedules and venues of individual programs should be checked as the Nam June Paik Art Center announces them. The exhibition "Stars, Trigrams" is open through the middle of February next year.
