Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practising?
Nam June Paik (1932-2006) is a Korean American. He is an internationally renowned video artist, a world-class master, the father of Video art, a master of modern art, and a master of Fluxus. In 1963, Nam June Paik became the first person to express creativity on a TV. His work combines art, media, technology, popular culture and avant-garde art, and influences contemporary art, video and television. With a large number of works, Nam June Paik provided the successful experience of the integration of new technologies and new art concepts, leaving many classic works and affecting the development of international art in the 1980s and 1990s.
What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)
Title: Nam June Paik and his Buddha TV
Where: New York, USA
When: 1974
How was the photo or video authored?
This famous work of art created by Mr. depicts an 18th-century Buddha image. The posture of the Buddha image is a symbolic gesture called “mud bodhisattva”, which means peaceful meditation. A video camera is placed in front of the Buddha statue, and the projected image is played on the white TV screen, which looks very futuristic. This work makes people feel that Buddha is destined to be trapped in a closed-loop forever, that is the infinite play of his reflection on the TV screen. This installation highlights the difference between the East and the West and also compares modern or futuristic elements with historical elements. It also includes other topics, such as controlling social screens and displaying religion and history on the screen. Paik successfully juxtaposed modern and emerging technologies with the religious and historical themes of the society at that time, and therefore compiled these messages into installations in the form of images.
Modern vanity and continuous monitoring also convey contemporary vanity. The Buddha is meditating and focusing on his image, just like the self-focus of the society which is driven by media and technology. Another message conveyed by this device is surveillance. During the Buddha’s observation and the audience watching the art installation, Mr Paik showed continuous monitoring driven by technology and media. Therefore, he successfully used art as a code to convey specific information to the audience.
How was the photo or video published?
According to a lot of information, analogue TV has always been one of Mr Paik’s leading media. In comparison, the analog video uses analog signals. For example, in early television, electronic waveforms were used to represent sound and vision. Due to the small size of the generated data and the significant changes in the waveform, these similar signals are susceptible to interference. Think about white noise. In order to tune an analog TV to a specific channel, it must be accurately positioned to obtain clear images and sound. As a work of art that is physically easy to exhibit and has been refurbished continuously around the world, it should be published by Mr Paik and the local museum showing.
How was the photo or video distributed?
From 1974 to 2005, Mr Paik’s TV Buddhas were exhibited around the world, giving viewers on all continents the opportunity to see this great work. Besides, with the different exhibition locations and the development of the times, the work of TV Buddha is continuously changing and continually adjusting. First of all, according to the information of the Estate of Nam June Paik & Nam June Paik Art Center, the original work of TV Buddha has been exhibited at Nam June Paik Art Center in Seoul, South Korea since its creation. People in China, Japan, South Korea and even the entire Asian region can Look at this work. Also, Mr Paik revised and created new TV Buddha works according to different countries. Museums such as the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Modern Art in New York, Gagosian Gallery in Hong Kong, and Museo Madre in Napoli all different exhibit versions of TV Buddha. Mr Paik is the first artist from Asia to influence the development of global art. These works across the world and exhibited in different cultural backgrounds are distributed to audiences all over the world, whether it is Eastern or Western culture. In addition, with the development of new media technologies in 2008, Nam June Paik Art Center also created a website. Besides, the booming growth of YouTube and Instagram also distributed Mr Paik’s works to all human beings on a larger scale on the Internet. However, on the other hand, if this kind of artwork that must rely on physical expression to distribute to the audience through the Internet, there is no way for the audience to feel the artistic breadth of this work.
Reference List
Artgallery.nsw.gov.au. 2020. TV Buddha, (1976) By Nam June Paik. [online] Available at: <https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/342.2011.a-f/> [Accessed 1 May 2020].
Lister, M, Dovey, J, Giddings, S, Grant, I & Kelly, K 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, New York.
The Art Story. 2020. Nam June Paik Artworks & Famous Art. [online] Available at: <https://www.theartstory.org/artist/paik-nam-june/artworks/> [Accessed 1 May 2020].