Nam June Paik: The Future is Now

10 Dec 2021 - 27 Mar 2022

National Gallery Singapore

Nam June Paik. John Cage Robot II. 1995. Vintage wood television cabinets, color television receivers, DVD players, multi-channel video, piano keys, piano hammers, piano wire, acrylic paint, basket, books, wood mushrooms, and chessmen, 108 x 80 x 31 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2011.17. Photography by Edward C. Robison III.

This large-scale institutional exhibition of visionary artist Nam June Paik surveys five decades of his pioneering work in the use of television and video in art. Paik is credited for introducing the term “electronic superhighway,” which foretold transformations in the way people would communicate in the networked age of the internet. Born in present-day South Korea in 1932, Paik lived and worked in Germany, Japan and the United States. A key figure in the avant-garde movements of the 20th century, he was also one of the first international superstars in the art world. 

Featuring installations, projections, modified televisions, video sculptures, robots and other inventive contraptions, this exhibition also incorporates archival material relating to Paik’s training in music, and participation in movements such as Fluxus.

National Gallery Singapore is the only Asian venue for this exhibition, and this will be the first time a comprehensive institutional survey of Nam June Paik’s work will be presented in Southeast Asia.

Exhibition organised by Tate Modern and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in collaboration with Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and National Gallery of Singapore. https://www.nationalgallery.sg