Teaching East Asia: Korea Teaching East Asia: Korea | Page 191

Art and Technology
During the last 50 years, many artists have addressed the relationship between technology and
how people experience the world. According to Korean artist Nam June Paik, “Our life is half
natural and half technological.” Paik has also commented, “Skin has become inadequate in
interfacing with reality. Technology has become the body’s new membrane of existence.”
Nam June Paik, TV-Buddha, 1974, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia
Nam June Paik, Electronic Superhighway, 1995, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
Nam June Paik (1932-2006), recognized internationally as the “Father of Video Art,” created a
large body of work including video sculptures, installations, performances, videotapes, and
television productions. He had a global presence and influence, and his creative art and visionary
ideas continue to inspire a new generation of artists.
Identify one work of art created after 1960 that addresses the relationship between technology
and how people experience the world. Your selection could be a work in video, photograph, or
installation, as well as a work in any other medium. Making specific reference to both Paik’s
words and your selected work, analyze how your example addresses the relationship between
technology and how people experience the world. You might select Nam June Paik as your
choice for research or another highly recognized artist, such as Bill Viola, a video artist. A very
different approach would be to compare/contrast Nam June Paik with another Korean artist,
Song Su-Nam, who took his art in the opposite direction by abstracting tree forms in the
traditional Korean style to extend its literati (scholar-artist) tradition.
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