Who is the practitioner and when were they practicing?
Nam June Paik (1932-2006) is a Korean American artist who is considered the “Father of Video Art”. He had his first exhibition in 1963 in Germany and continued to create video art until his death in 2006.
“Skin has become inadequate in interfacing with reality. Technology has become the body’s new membrane of existence.” – Nam June Paik
What is the title of the video you have chosen to analyse?
The title of this video art is Electronic Superhighway.
With the video you are examining when was it produced?
The artwork was exhibited in 1995 but the videos displayed which are on over 300 televisions, are specific historic clips that represent each state to convey his understanding of them. For example, Kansas is represented by The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Mississippi is represented through clips of the civil rights movement (1954-1968). Clips used throughout the artwork are chosen from over the 20th century timeline.
How was the video authored?
Nam June Paik ensured that technology was apart of all of his art. Paik’s Electronic Superhighway is a mammoth piece that consists of a 51 channel closed circuit video installation, neon lighting, custom electronics and steel and wood. To be specific, it comprises of 336 televisions, 50 DVD players, 3,750 feet of cable and 575 feet of neon lighting. The neon lighting is shaped into the continental U.S.A and it’s various states.
The clips played are analogue videos onto analogue televisions which “exists as fixed physical objects in the world, their production being dependent upon transcription from one physical state to anther” (Lister, 2009). The transcriptions can vary from cables to aerials and television monitors so there are various instances where the signal can be interfered with creating distortion and static. Paik used this to his advantage often.
Paik was often praised for his futuristic outlook on life and while this work is generally described as celebrating the fact that the “electronic superhighway” allows us to communicate with and understand each other across traditional boundaries, through the means of technology, it can also be argued that this particular work is posing some difficult questions about how that technology is impacting culture. For example, the physical scale of the work and number of simultaneous clips makes it difficult to absorb any details, resulting in what we now call “information overload”.
How was the video published?
The Electronic Superhighway was produced for the purpose of being art and creating discussion. Paik was big on giving his audiences a glimpse into the future. He gifted this work to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, so he presumably created this piece with the intention of it being put into a space where may people could gather and experience it.
How was the video distributed?
The Electronic Superhighway has stayed on exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum since Paik first gifted it. The museum is located in Washington and receives millions of visits a year which provides a large reach for Paik’s work to been seen. It’s also one of his more famous works so multiple articles have been written about it across the web and plenty of videos can be found on video platforms such a YouTube.
References:
Smithsonian American Art Museum. 2020. Nam June Paik. [online] Available at: <https://americanart.si.edu/artist/nam-june-paik-3670> [Accessed 20 April 2020].
Public Delivery. 2020. Nam June Paik’s Legendary Electronic Superhighway. [online] Available at: <https://publicdelivery.org/nam-june-paik-electronic-superhighway/> [Accessed 20 April 2020].
Blogs.commons.georgetown.edu. 2020. An Analysis Of Paik’S Electronic Superhighway | CCTP 802 – Art And Media Interfaced. [online] Available at: <https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/cctp-802-spring2017/an-analysis-of-paiks-electronic-superhighway/> [Accessed 20 April 2020].
Lister, M, Dovey, J, Giddings, S, Grant, I & Kelly, K 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, New York.