"Once Captured, You Cannot Die" Communicating with the Present of Nam June Paik

90th Anniversary of Nam June Paik's Birth 'How to Remember Nam June Paik'
Reinterpretation and Communication by Syuk, Buttercup, Yangbin, Jang Seowon, Yenicoy, and Others

Buttercup 'Eternal Present'

'Actual Fish / Live Broadcast Fish' is one of Nam June Paik's representative works. It featured two televisions: one containing real fish and the other playing recorded fish footage, simultaneously filmed by CCTV and displayed. Shuk transferred this mysterious composition into a virtual space. The fish inside and outside the television and the camera filming them pointed to the ambiguous boundary between reality and virtuality. Buttercup focused on Nam June Paik's artistic view that "once recorded on video, you cannot die." By placing fish in the metaverse and replaying the virtual space, the video-recorded images were connected to an eternal present.

Shuk 'Virtual Fish'

An exhibition reinterpreting Nam June Paik's expanded artistic world through media art is unfolding. To commemorate the 90th anniversary of Nam June Paik's birth, the Seoul Design Foundation is holding "How to Remember Nam June Paik" at Dongdaemun Design Plaza starting from the 19th. Five media artists?Shuk, Buttercup, Yang Bin, Jang Seowon, and Yenikoi?present videos paying homage to Nam June Paik's works on a transparent media wall installed in front of D-Forest on the first floor of the Salimteo building. All focused on how Nam June Paik reconstructed symbolic events to communicate with the present.

Yang Bin 'Good Morning Mr.Paik'

Jang Seowon and Yang Bin cited Nam June Paik's world-first live broadcast show via satellite, "Good Morning Mr. Orwell," from a new perspective. "Good Morning Mr. Orwell" is a work that argues George Orwell's dystopian worldview depicted in the novel "1984" was mistaken. Jang Seowon further emphasized the positive aspects of media, expressing a bright future filled with digital flowers in the metaverse. Yang Bin changed the receiver from Orwell to Nam June Paik. By collaging several of Nam June Paik's works, he argues that the prediction "the cathode ray tube replaces the canvas" was not wrong.

Yeniko 'Muhan Shinyukhyeong'

Yenikoi borrowed Nam June Paik's artistic view to create the "Infinite New Growth Form" (a plant type whose stem length continues to grow even after blooming). Focusing on the contradictory worldview of coexistence between machine civilization and nature, she discovered keywords that simultaneously explain media and nature: "vivid colors," "free and flexible forms," and "unbound continuous vitality." Like the Infinite New Growth Form, it shows the geometrically growing forms of media and nature.

Jang Seowon 'Hello Mr. Orwell'

All works are displayed through transparent OLEDs. This is a large video panel built in collaboration between the Seoul Design Foundation and LG Electronics. Eight 55-inch panels are connected as one. The size is 4.9 meters wide and 1.6 meters high. Lee Kyung-don, CEO of the Seoul Design Foundation, said, "We will support next-generation media artists to fully demonstrate their skills not only on the transparent media wall but also in various indoor and outdoor spaces of Dongdaemun Design Plaza."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.