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The Work of Nam June Paik from the Perspective of Remediation

이수연 1

1국립현대미술관

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Nam June Paik, an early pioneer of television and video art, drew the new media into the artistic methodology of modern art through the strategy of remediation. In his hands the new technological medium of the television was used to remediate the existing social and cultural context. The relationship between television and the social and cultural contexts of older media influenced not only the content of the new medium but its evolution as well. Paik applied the medium of television to older art and ways of life, and used them as a springboard for new possibilities. Television became part of the challenge of modern music to traditional Western music through its use in remediating musical instruments like the piano, while the Fluxus intermedia method of mixed senses and interactivity set the direction for the form and substance of experimental television art. Fluxus concepts and the tradition of painting also led the process of designing the synthesizer, along with the available technology and the development of the television industry. After Paik’s television media experiments of the 1960s and 70s, the medium has maintained its experimental artistry in contemporary art as a catalyst for remediation through constant shifts in content and form. The strategy of remediation, presented by an early pioneer, became a crucial force for television to evolve and adapt in the complex world of contemporary art.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.