Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?
Nam June Paik, born in 1932, was a Korean American artist considered to be the founder of ‘video art’. Paik practiced from 1962 until his death in 2006 after becoming a member of the experimental art movement Fluxus.
What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)
‘TV Buddha’
https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/342.2011.a-f/
With the photo or video, you are examining when was it produced (date)?
Although there have been multiple ‘TV Buddha’s, this one was made in 1976 in Sydney after John Kaldor invited Paik and his collaborater, cellist Charlotte Moorman to create a piece for the Kaldor Public Art Project in Australia.
How was the photo or video authored?
This ‘TV Buddha’ was authored using an old wooden Maitreya (Buddha of the future) from the Kaldor collection, as well as a television monitor, video camera, tripod and plinth. It employs a conceptual use of video in which the camera and the monitor loop in real time, blurring the object-subject distinction with self indulgence, technology and self acceptance. Comparisons can also be drawn to modern day reality TV and its affect on society as ‘TV Buddha’ serves as a earlier interpretation of that.
How was the photo or video published?
This ‘TV Buddha’ was published in Sydney at the “From Christo and Jeanne-Claude to Jeff Koons: John Kaldor art projects and collection,” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney on 12 Dec 1995 – 17 Mar 1996
How was the photo or video distributed?
This ‘TV Buddha’ was then displayed at these following exhibitions:
- Journey to now: John Kaldor art projects and collection, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 18 Apr 2003–06 Jul 2003
- Nam June Paik, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 10 Jan 2004–08 Feb 2004
- 40 years: Kaldor Public Art Projects, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 02 Oct 2009–14 Feb 2010
- Conversations through the Asian collections, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 25 Oct 2014–13 Mar 2016
Other ‘TV Buddha’s have been on display at multiple Museums around the world including Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, James Cohan Gallery, Harvard Art Museums and many more.
Pictures of this ‘TV Buddha’ and information about it is also on The Art Gallery of NSW’s website allowing for another form distribution. Additionally, other websites with photos and videos of other ‘TV Buddha’s are circulating on the internet.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam_June_Paik
https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/342.2011.a-f/
https://publicdelivery.org/nam-june-paik-tv-buddha/