Nam June Paik

Nam June Paik is internationally recognized as the “Father of Video Art,” having brought the television to the realm of fine art beginning in the 1960s. Paik foresaw the importance of mass media and new technologies, coining the phrase ‘electronic superhighway’ in 1974 to predict the future of communication in an internet age. His video sculptures, installations, and performances revolutionized artmaking, producing avant-garde compositions by manipulating technological advancements. His profoundly radical oeuvre and visionary ideas continue to inspire a new generation of artists.

Born in Seoul in 1932, he fled with his family in 1950 to escape the Korean War, traveling first to Hong Kong and then to Japan. After graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1956, Paik moved to West Germany, where he later joined the Fluxus group in 1962. The influence of Fluxus influenced his experimentation with television sets and their screens. By 1964, Paik was living and working in New York, gaining acclaim for his inventive works. Recently the subject of a major retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Art in 2021, Paik’s work is also included in the prestigious institutional collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate, London; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.