How this Nam June Paik Exhibition in Tate Modern Predicted Social Media's Impact

London’s Tate Modern is currently showing an extensive exhibition dedicated to the life’s work of Korean born artist Nam June Paik. Paik is widely considered to be the founder of video art as he pushed boundaries in the fine art world through his experimentation with media. The exhibition, running until February 9th, compiles over 200 works of Paik’s from various stages of his career.

'TV Buddha', Nam June Paik

Upon entering the exhibition one could easily think that this is the work of a living contemporary artist. However, Paik began operating as an artist from the 1960s right up until his death in 2006. He successfully predicted the extent to which media would be integrated into society through his work and writings which is what makes his work so relevant to this day. One of the first pieces to be encountered in the Paik exhibition is TV Buddha, 1974. It depicts a bronze Buddha statue with a video camera pointed at it. The camera records the statue and displays its reflection on a sphere-shaped television set. The work seeks to represent the meeting of Western technology with Zen Buddhism. In a contemporary context, this work could be seen as a representation of streamer and YouTuber culture as individuals are investing more and more time in front of their cameras. Some initially turning to the camera as a means of comfort and company, whilst others end up more isolated than ever as a result. The viewer can also interact with this piece by crouching behind the Buddha to see themselves on the screen, many taking this opportunity to get a selfie for Instagram.

Three Camera Participation/Participation TV, Nam June Paik

Another work of Paik’s that embraces interactivity is Three Camera Participation/Participation TV, 1969/2001. The piece consists of three video cameras, a monitor and a projection of the monitor onto the facing wall. The piece comes to life when the viewer steps in front of the cameras and three silhouettes of the viewer appear, one red, one yellow and one blue. Much like TV Buddha, this piece predicted a change in society. We’re now living in an age where exhibitions are being curated with the sole objective of being “Instagrammable”. With the first iteration of Three Camera Participation making its debut in 1969, Paik’s invitation for the viewer to participate in the work is astounding and makes you wonder what Paik would think of artists today creating work specifically to be photographed and shared rather than to provoke thought.

TV Garden, Nam June Paik

TV Garden is another one of those pieces that seemed like it could’ve been created in the past five to ten years as it oozes “Vaporwave” and is reminiscent of the work of contemporary artist Signe Pierce. TV Garden first came to life in 1974 and as the title of the work suggests, it shows an array of television sets amongst green exotic plants. In this work, Paik is fusing nature with technology. This idea evidently has become more relevant in this day and age as smartphones have basically become an extension of ourselves and as society urbanizes more we are turning to the likes of Planet Earth for our fix of nature. The video playing on the screens is Paik’s piece Global Groove, “an electronic collage” visually akin to the early years of MTV and 80s music videos. Paik is portraying the visual overload of television as exaggerated adverts are juxtaposed with musical performances. When viewing with audio, Global Groove opens with the statement;

“This is a glimpse of the video landscape of tomorrow when you will be able to switch to any TV station on the earth, and TV Guide will be as fat as the Manhattan telephone book.”

You could say that this statement indeed became true as we now have unlimited access to more than a lifetimes amount of media online.

The Sistine Chapel, Nam June Paik

The Sistine Chapel is the fittingly the final work in the exhibition as it serves as a recap of the whole exhibition. The work, being shown for the first time since its creation for The Venice Biennal in 1993, consists of thirty-four projectors that throw a plethora of moving images onto the gallery’s four walls. Each video is familiar as they’re excerpts from Paik’s work that we have already seen throughout this exhibition. The Sistine Chapel is an overwhelming experience that is reminiscent of the information overload that we face on a daily basis through media consumption.