Week 6: Analogue Videography
Global Groove
Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practising?
Nam June Paik was a true visionary who saw technology as a way to introduce the world to art. Born in South Korea, he practised from 1962, until his death in 2004. From opening his first exhibition ‘Exhibition of Music/Electronic Television’, his focus of his work was on the connection between art and technology. Paik deconstructed the video medium, for example taking apart cameras and television sets in his studio and resembling them to demonstrate their inherent characteristics. He also predicted future technological developments including the Internet, proposing building a network of electronic super highways, using satellites, cable and fibre optics to connect faraway cities (1974).
What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)
Global Groove – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UXwhIQsYXY
With the photo or video, you are examining when was it produced (date)?
Global Groove is a 28 minute long video-art piece created by Nam June Paik in 1973.
How was the photo or video authored?
Nam June Paik worked predominantly with video. The materials used by Paik in Global Groove includes a video tape (betacam), which is shown as single channel digital video, whilst also using colour and sound.
Paik made many predictions regarding new technology that did come true. This videography reflects the technology of television, and Paik’s ideas about the future of it. It states “TV guides will be as fat as the Manhattan Telephone book”. These radical ideas are replicated by intense Pop iconography. The sound and images both provide connotations of being electronic, blending into each other like wave-forms of analogue television.
How was the photo or video published and distributed?
The video was published by TV Lab at WNET/Thirteen. TV Lab, running from 1972-1984, was an experimental division of Channel 13, a public TV Channel. Co-created by Paik, he wanted a place for artists to create new imagery on TV. The technology included: bluescreen ChromaKey studio, video synthesizers and a digital time base corrector. It allowed artists to put their hands on the latest equipment, helping to create the newfound global phenomenon of video art.
In terms of current distribution, it can be found on many websites today including art gallery websites and YouTube.
References
Art Gallery. Global Groove 1973. Nam June Paik. [Online] Available from: <https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/10.2004/> [Accessed 22/04/2020].
Global Groove. 1973. YouTube. [Online] Available from: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UXwhIQsYXY> [Accessed 22/04/2020].