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Dreaming in television | page 1, 2
Humor and a sly, ironic sensibility save Paik's work from the doldrums of experiment for experiment's sake. The works in the main gallery tend to fall somewhere along a spectrum whose two poles are funniness and questioning self-mockery, while addressing more stolid concerns like temporality in a genial and lighthearted manner. "Candle TV" (1975, 2000 version), a real candle burning inside a TV cabinet, points to the fact that TVs have taken on an altarlike centrality in most homes. Similarly, "Video Buddha" (1976-78), which places a Buddha sculpture in front of a monitor set in a dirt mound, so that the Buddha can watch himself on closed-circuit TV, comments wittily on our oldest and newest sacraments. Apparently, Paik has a thing for fish. He uses them in works that aim toward the gap between representation and reality. "Real Fish/Live Fish" (1982, 2000 version) employs two vintage TV cabinets because the extremely convex screens of older TVs look more like fishbowls. Set into one cabinet is a real fish tank with live fish that sits in front of a closed-circuit TV camera; the other cabinet contains a functioning monitor on which you can view real-time images of the fish in the tank next to it. Within the closed circuit, the TVs function both as sender and receiver of the fish images. In "Video Fish" (1975, 2000 version), a horizontal bank of TV cabinets with real fish swimming inside them sits in front of monitors on which a video of random images plays, so that one looks through the fish tanks to view the video. Of course, this also allows the fish to watch TV while they swim. In addition to the fish pieces, the show includes a number of works that make metaphoric use of TVs for humorous or inquisitive ends. "TV Clock" (1963, 2000 version) positions 24 monitors in a row at eye level, each with a single electronic line angled like a clock's hour hand set at a different hour of the day. "Moon Is the Oldest TV: Colored Version" (2000) makes the clever argument that the moon, because it reflects light from the sun, functions like a primitive television receiver. Perhaps the largest of the show's installations, "TV Garden" (1974, 2000 version) scatters TV monitors with Paik's video "Global Groove" playing among an Eden of potted plants. Paik has also spawned an entire hilarious family of single-channel video sculptures called "Family of Robot." Each member of the family is composed of vintage TV cabinets -- with video monitors set in displaying images appropriate to the age and gender of the member depicted -- which form TV people with arms, legs, torsos and heads. Sadly, only the grandparents and "Hi-Tech Baby" made it to the show. When I stopped by "The Worlds of Nam June Paik," laughing visitors filled the ramps and galleries. Not surprisingly, children seemed particularly taken with Paik's whimsical creations. Today, because words like "experimental" and "avant-garde" are so frequently applied to work that is sullen, whiny, angry and self-important, an artist who gives experimentalism a good name delights us all.
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