Nam June Paik

This documentary was about the man who first made the scene of video art. He had a few revolutionary exhibitions that featured a neon map of the US with TV’s playing content relevant to that area of the country. I feel like that exhibition is not particularly profound, but I’m sure at the time it was new and therefore profound (the medium is the message).

Paik discredited his ability as a musician, but I like that he incorporated music into his work with the cellist who would play with the TVs. It was a great melding of the mediums. On the whole, I tend to dislike video art. Nothing has ever struck home with me, and I fail to understand its meanings.

The majority of Paik’s work consisted of intensely flashing lights that attacked you. It was very hard to watch any of it for too long. I had to look away from the screen when they held a close-up of one of his TV’s. Apparently they were supposed to access your brain for a split second and then move on. How can I understand something that is in constant change? Am I supposed to feel something? Did he place sub-conscious messages into me? I don’t know, but it gave me a headache.

I suppose that his work does represent his time though, the psychedelic nature of the work was prevalent then. I did like one of his works, and that was the piece where there was a frame of a head with a hat, and in the hat were 3 TVs, and then one where the mouth is. This represented a message that we can relate to, it symbolized how we think, and what comes out of our mouths.

Even though I am studying TV, I have always had a hard time with Video Art. I think it has to do with the relation of the Hot/Cold media that McLuhan talks about. TV shows are very hot, with lots of information, and Paik’s video art is cold because it tells you lots of nothing and I don’t know how to understand that, and I can’t contemplate on it like you can a painting or photograph.