Nam June Paik

In the documentary piece Rare Performance Documents (1961-1994), in which Nam June Paik collaborated with the artist Charlotte Moorman, one sees the various ways in which the two attempted to create surprising and vital connections between music, technology, current events and sexuality. In the work TV Bra (1968), for instance, Moorman plays the cello with her upper body exposed, and two small monitors attached to her breasts. In the work TV Bed (1971), Moorman swept the bow of a cello across a number of television sets piled one upon the other, while her image performing this action was simultaneously seen on screen. The playful nihilistic spirit of these works was based on a number of reduced elements that were taken apart and reassembled into a new syntax.

Born in South Korea, 1932-2006