Major works by Nam June Paik will be shown across Seoul this year to mark the 20th anniversary of his death.
Gagosian said Wednesday it will present “Nam June Paik: Rewind / Repeat” from April 1 to May 16 at the APMA Cabinet on the first floor of Amorepacific’s headquarters in Seoul’s Yongsan district.
Organized in collaboration with the Nam June Paik Estate, the exhibition will feature 11 works spanning Paik’s early experimental pieces through signature works from his later years.
A highlight is “TV Bra for Living Sculpture,” which embeds two small black-and-white televisions, housed in a Plexiglas box, into transparent vinyl underwear. Paik made the piece for musician and performance artist Charlotte Moorman. She wore it while playing the cello at the opening performance of the 1969 exhibition “TV as a Creative Medium” at the Howard Wise Gallery in New York. Sounds produced during the performance altered the images on the TV screens, reflecting Paik’s idea of “humanizing” electronic devices.
Also included is Paik’s iconic “Gold TV Buddha” (2005), showing a gilded, painted bronze Buddha meditating before a closed-circuit video camera and monitor. The work points to the intersection of ancient spirituality and modern media, and of Eastern and Western ways of thinking. Other works on view include “Orchestra” (1991) and “Media Sandwich” (1961–1964).
At the Amorepacific Museum of Art, a special collection exhibition, “APMA, CHAPTER FIVE – FROM THE APMA COLLECTION,” runs from April 1 to Aug. 2 and includes works by Paik. The show features pieces by more than 40 artists from Korea and abroad, including Lee Bul, Yang Hye-gyu and Lee Ufan. It will also spotlight Paik’s large-scale installation “Kon-Tiki” and “Peak Flower Garden,” a major work being shown at the museum for the first time in more than 20 years.
The Hoban Cultural Foundation is also holding a 20th-anniversary memorial exhibition, “Nam June Paik: STILL LIVE – Living Time,” at the Hoban Atrium in Gwacheon, south of Seoul. On view are key works including “TV Rodin,” “TV Candle” and “Sonatine for Goldfish,” as well as “Neon TV” and “Burma Chest.” The exhibition runs through May 31.
More Paik-related programming is scheduled for May. White Cube Seoul will present a two-person show, “Duet: Takis and Nam June Paik,” from May 2 to June 5, pairing sculptures by Greek artist Takis with Paik’s multimedia works. The exhibition was planned in response to an experimental, multilayered musical collaboration the two artists presented together in 1979.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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