Exposition of Mythology – Electronic Technology
The Gift of Nam June Paik 2 Seminar/
Re-tying the Gordian Knot
September 3 and 4, 2009
85 Sanggal-dong, Giheung-gu,
Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do
446-905
Republic of Korea
T: + 82 (0) 31 201 8543
F: + 82 (0) 31 201 8515
c.pestana [at] njpartcenter.kr
Exposition of Mythology – Electronic Technology attempts to suggest possible translations and readings of the Big Bang effect of Paik’s first solo show Exposition of Music Electronic Television on the fields of music, art and technology. In 1963, by introducing manipulated TVs as art for the first time, Paik expanded the ontological parameters of music by pushing music composition and appreciation beyond the limits of their traditional canons, and also brought the participatory role of the receiver in both art and communication to the fore. Alongside this innovative introduction, Paik incorporated several notions derived from shamanistic rituals and Zen techniques.
By incorporating such diverse visions of the world, from Eastern to Western philosophies, from the scientific to the shamanistic, or the technological to the artistic, Paik opened a way out from the impasses of modern Western civilization. The current exhibition takes its inspiration from Paik to suggest a new approach to the capacity of human thought, one where distinctions are converged onto a horizontal plane of equivalences and human centered thinking is replaced by an experience that establishes symmetries between things. In so doing, this exhibition does not aspire to offer definitive answers to any questions posed; instead it hopes to offer the audience a new means of questioning their preconceptions and perceptions in an approach reminiscent of mythological thought.
The Gift of Nam June Paik Seminar 2 accompanies the current exhibition to offer insights into this type of thought that is capable of destroying the distance and hierarchy established by modern thought between gods and humans, man and animal, culture, technology and nature. Over two days, the speakers, from fields as diverse as music theory and physics, will analyze the specificities and shifts operated by Paik’s first solo show within artistic practice, introduce their own specific practices and reflect on how they continue to blur boundaries, or suggest wider social, political and anthropological implications. Ultimately, the hope is to raise questions that expand the realm of studies addressing the role of Nam June Paik’s practice within a wider academic context. For example, what are the characteristics of Paik’s thinking presented in the 1963 exhibition? How does this distinctive way of thinking open up alternative perspectives on the relationship between humans, technology, nature, and objects? How do these perspectives impact on wider social, anthropological and religious conceptions of the world? What political implications result from these perspectives?
Artists participating in Exposition of Mythology – Electronic Technology: Nam June Paik, Mary Bauermeister, Sung Eun Chang, Marcus Coates, Honoré ∂’O, Jimmie Durham, Chul Ki Hong, Yun Ho Kim, Christoph Meier, Ute Müller, Ujino Muneteru, Jong Woo Park, Kyong Park, Pedro Diniz Reis, Han Kil Ryu, Una Szeemann, Javier Téllez, Gregor Zootzky and others.
Curated by Youngchul Lee – Director of Nam June Paik Art Center
The Gift of Nam June Paik 2: Re-tying the Gordian Knot
Speakers: Hank Bull (artist and executive director of the Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art – Centre A), Chul-ki Hong (Political Science PhD candidate at Seoul National University), Joong-kwon Jin (art critic and author of Odyssey in Aesthetics), Jeong-hwan Jo (lecturer of Marxist and Postmodern social and cultural theory at Yonsei University), Hun-Yee Jung (Art History Professor at Hansung University), Tetsuo Kogawa (artist and professor of media experiments at Tokyo Keizai University’s Department of Communication Studies), Susanne Neuburger (senior curator at Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien – MUMOK), Jung-jin Park (Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Hanyang University), Chun Sil Yoon (physicist and research professor at the Gyeongsang University), David Zerbib (lecturer at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and at the École supérieure d’art Annecy).
Nam June Paik Art Center
85 Sanggal-dong, Giheung-gu,
Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do
446-905
Republic of Korea
T: + 82 (0) 31 201 8543
F: + 82 (0) 31 201 8515
c.pestana@njpartcenter.kr
