Nam June Paik: The Maestro of Time
December 5, 2019 - January 31, 2020
Gallery Korea of the Korean Cultural Center New York
(460 Park Ave. 6th Floor, New York, NY 10022)
Special Extended Hours for the Anniversary of the passing of Name June Paik:
Wednesday, January 29, 2020, 9 am - 8 pm
The Korean Cultural Center New York is pleased to present Nam June Paik: The Maestro of Time in celebration of its 40th anniversary.
Nam June Paik
M200 / Video Wall, 1991
Television monitors, 118 1/16 x 377 15/16 x 19 ⅝ in.
Nam June Paik: The Maestro of Time celebrates an artist who freely orchestrated the concept of time across the past, present, and future. Nam June Paik’s many titles— the father of video art, avant-garde musician, performance artist, and thinker, among many more— are made evident through this exhibit.
Nam June Paik
Video Chandelier No.4, 1990-91
57 x 43 in
Mixed media showing 2 channel video
This exhibition presents Paik’s keen insight that foresaw the era of video and other social media platforms, and in celebrating the history and future of the KCCNY (inaugurated on December 5th, 1979), aims to channel Paik’s visionary ways of seeing the future, paving the way forward with a new, creative vision.
Nam June Paik: The Maestro of Time brings monumental works together in one place, including M200, Paik’s large-scale video art created in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s passing, as well as photographs by Jae-young Choi of Paik’s gut performances. M200 is the highlight of the exhibition that consists of 86 TV monitors spanning the wall. It not only features Mozart, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and Joseph Beuys, but also plays music that Paik himself had arranged, composed of various sounds including classical music, pop, and instrumental sounds. This visualized musical collage piece represents Nam June Paik as a contemporary composer and video artist.
Jae Young Choi
From the Nam June Paik Gut Series
1990/2019
32.9 x 48.3 cm
Archival Pigment Ink on Fine Art Paper
Edition of 40
Moreover, on July 20th, 1990, Nam June Paik performed a shamanistic performance called gut on his birthday in commemoration of his best friend and benefactor Joseph Beuys, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Photographer Jae-young Choi’s works documenting this performance are shown here for the first time in New York. Choi joined the JoongAng Ilbo (a South Korean daily newspaper) in 1978 and has covered the Blue House, the National Assembly, and Panmunjom as a photojournalist.
Nam June Paik: The Maestro of Time was co-curated by Iris In Hee Moon, Director of FAZI, and Hee Sung Cho, Curator at the KCCNY.
This exhibition would not have been possible without the generous support of Chairman Soung E. Hong of Rainier Group USA for key loans from his collection.
