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The Father of Video Art. When more than forty years ago, in 60 s young Korean man named Nam June Paik began experimenting with visual images nobody could even predict that those experiments would make a basis for a principally new genre of art. By that time there was neither equipment, no techniques to realize his ideas in the full scope as it could be nowadays. There was another factor that defined the emergence of the new art, namely the Master with the absolutely specific perception of the reality.
Nam June Paik overtook the time having submitted a report to the Rockefeller Foundation urging the construction of a global "broadband telecommunications infrastructure" in far 1974 (Century, Michael). The main principle of the new art was according to the Master the humanization of the technology in the post industrial society. Nam June Paik introduced a real breakthrough in the world understanding by means of conglomeration of the advanced technology and the Artists vision of the world. From the point of view of the technical means application the creative work of Nam June Paik no doubt changed the understanding of the modern visual means. The technology is coming as a secondary factor, as a tool. From this point of view Nam June Paik is not original from the point of view of the genius originality.
He is no more original than Salinger, Doctorow, Dali, and no less, if the term of the originality is applicable to the founders of the cultural directions. In his creative activity Nam June Paik is experimenting and utilizing principally new powerful means of expression, namely video image. Master applied the technology of video as an artistic tool. This tool appeared to be very expressive and flexible. It is significant fact that the new art emerged as concentrated essence of music history, art history, and philosophy which Master studied at the University of Tokyo (Nam June Paik). He succeeded to combine all that basic knowledge of the mankind in his art.
His art is very democratic due to its visual nature and very meaningful due to the unlimited number of tools it is operated by. The aesthetics of the Master is the permanent search for the new, imaginative and humanistic ways of using our technology" (Transmission). It would not be quiet correct to associate the creative work of the Master with the video means only. It would be more appropriate to classify his works as the works of the visual perception.
The installation Transmission that was presented at Rockefeller Center after the tragic 9 / 11 event and accompanied by Mozart's Requiem is the site of condolence on one hand and the firm aspiration to consolidate the nation on the other hand. The Transmission installation reflects the masters vision of the humanization of the technical development. The immortal Mozart's Requiem and the solemn silent cars painted in silver as if grieving on the victims of the barbarian attack express the depth of the Masters feelings. The cars and the solemn Mozart symbolize the America itself the technological progress of which combines with the high moral and cultural values.
The vision of the Master is that the technological progress will never suppress the highest moral values. This is the essence of the Masters activity. That is maybe defining Nam June Paik as a Father of the really new cultural direction and not just a founder of the new technical means application. Mozart's Requiem is very symbolic, because that was the last unfinished work of a composer and his one of the best creations. The Master says that the victims of the cruel attack will never be forgotten.
It is very difficult to describe the Transmission Installation just verbally. It is almost the same as to narrate Mozart's Requiem by the alternative means, but Master succeeded to do this. It is very important question if the technological progress reshapes the moral values and cultural principals of the society. It definitely does, in a way. But the Master showed that the common human values are immortal and could be expressed by the high tech means which are actually the tools, the Masters palette and a brush. The founder of the new art has successfully combined the laser effects, video, TV, and the music which he studied professionally when he was a student.
It is very difficult to say what the dominant factor in his creative activity is, music, video effects, TV or any other. We can say that all these means are working in accord serving the main aim to express the authors perception of the reality and his feelings. In his work The Master employs various visual means such as the electronic moving image to combine art and technology through television projects, videotapes, installations, performances, collaborations and sculptures (The worlds of Nam June Paik). All this creates the visual reflection of the world through the artists understanding. When the artist presents his works to the spectator he creates the real theater of images as it was in the Worlds of Nam June Paik. Entering the darkened Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum for The Worlds of Nam June Paik, the viewer is enveloped into an electronic universe created by a visionary multi-media artist (The worlds of Nam June Paik). The visitor is entering the mysterious world of the Masters feelings created by the technical means. The stylistics of the permanent development is expressed by TV Clock, 1989 Installation. The Master succeeded to make visitor realize that the time is moving smoothly but irrevocably. Everything in his Worlds of Nam June Paik is working to make visitor feel that he entered some futuristic environment but environment that understandable for the visitor, because every detail is working for the revaluation of the reality perception and its better understanding. In his activity Master moved beyond the technical abilities of the conventional technical tools.
He had to reshape his canvas to achieve the better performance. Existing means did not suit his requirements. In one of his early works Global Groove, he used the elements of the interactive TV thus predicting a sort of Utopia based on the Mcluhan model of the Global Village, where all the worlds citizens could conceivably be empowered by having individual means and access to their own broadcasting utilities and forums. (Kober, Matthew). Apart from creating his own visual images the Master experimented with the received images manipulating with them. He changed the signal thus producing unnatural images that suited the breakthrough of his imagination. The significance of the creative work of Nam June Paik may be expressed by only one term, he is the first and he is the founder.
He demystified the television by altering the magnetic polarity of the cathode-ray tube, demonstrating that the lines of light on the screen were clearly controlled by the large magnet sitting on top of the set rather than by some magical connection to the "real world." (Experimental Video). He was the first who gave the viewers the opportunity to become the interactive participants of the show. Nam June Paik was the first who showed the unlimited abilities of the video by using Sony Portapak, the first truly portable videotape recorder, in l 965. The creative activity of Nam June Paik can not be overestimated. His contribution to the modern art is so high that there is hardly any other artist who could be compared with the Master. Actually, no comparison is pertinent while speaking of the genius.
Nam June Paik shows there is always alternative means that could be applied by the real artists for embodiment of his talent. He made the cold computing science interpret the cultural values of the human being. Being Korean by the origin he succeeded to combine the deep oriental cultural traditions with the technical achievements of the Western society. It is rather a disputable question which is prevailing factor in the cultural phenomenon named Nam June Paik, oriental cultural roots or Western technological progress. Bibliography Century, Michael, Pathways to Innovation in Digital Culture, Centre for Research on Canadian Cultural Industries and Institutions, July 7, 1999, available at web Nam June Paik, available at web Transmission, Nam June Paik, available at web The Worlds of Nam June Paik, available at web Kober, Matthew, Nam Jun Paik and the New Media, available at web Experimental Video, available at web
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