EXPosition of mythology - ELectronic technology
EXPosition of mythology
ELectronic technology
12 June - 4 October 2009
Opening 12 June Friday, at 5pm
Exhibition Hall 2 of Nam June Paik Art Center
Artists
Nam June Paik, alan∂, Chang Sung Eun, Christoph Meier, Gregor Zootzky, Hong Chul Ki, Honore ∂’O, Javier Tellez, Jimmie Durham, Kevin Clarke, Kim Yun Ho, Mary Bauermeister, Marcus Coates, Roland Topor, Ryu Han Kil, Park Kyong, Park Jong Woo, Pedro Diniz Reis, Tilo Baumgartel, Ujino Muneteru, Una Szeemann, Ute Mueller, and Others.
Curated by Youngchul Lee
The EXPosition of Mythology - ELectronic Technology explores notions of technology, mythology and religion through the perspective of Nam June Paik's first solo exhibition in 1963, EXPosition of Music ELectronic Television. Nam June Paik's first solo exhibition is taken as representative of the thinking and concerns Paik would later explore in his practice and represents a bridge between Eastern and Western philosophies offering an alternative perspective into how technology, mythology and religion can be understood from a more anthropological perspective.
In this 1963 exhibition, Paik presented his first experiments with televisions, his prepared pianos and several other objects that invited audience participation. Paik’s use of the exhibition space, including hanging a dead cow’s head in the entrance and making people walk around a giant balloon to enter the rest of the exhibition, highlights his emphasis the viewer's participation and bodily experience. In addition, Paik also raised issues concerning the experience of time, media, history, and knowledge by suggesting different themes and concepts through the works created for the exhibition, the posters displayed, and the type of participation solicited to experience this show. The following were some of Paik's themes:
instrumentsforZenExercise,ObjectsSonores,SonolizedRoom,KindergartenfortheOld,Memoriesofthe20thCentury,Howtobesatisfiedwith70%,
HommagetoRudolfAugstein,PreparedWC,Fetishismofidea,Quesaisje?,Doityour...,Synchronizationasaprincipleofindeterminaterelationships,
Isthetimewithoutcontentpossible?,AstudyofGermanidiotology, amongothers
For the upcoming exhibition the aim is to play with these themes, reflect on them, update them to current situations and even possibly parody some of them. Selected works will be presented alongside documentation related to different themes to emphasize the relevance and development of the concerns present in Paik’s exhibition in relation to historical, cultural and anthropological perspectives informed by a reading of the forty years that have passed since EXPosition of Music, Electronic Television.
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