Nam June Paik

For my final presentation, with Sarah Vaz, we chose to research the artist Nam June Paik.

Paik's early life was interesting, because he was not born here in the United States. He was born in Seoul Korea. When he was younger he was actually training to be a classical pianist. During the Korean war, Paik and his family had to flee their home and went to Hong Kong first, and later Japan. Six years later, Paik graduated from the University of Tokyo. He wrote his thesis on the composer Arnold Schoenberg. Paik got interested in electronic art after he moved to Germany to study at Munich University.

Paik participated in the Fluxus movement. His debut was at an exhibition titled, "Exposition of Music-Electronic Television." He randomly placed television sets and then used magnets, which distorted their images.

In the year 1964, he moved to New York and began doing work with classical cellist Charlotte Moorman in a video and musical performance. I remember seeing images of this in class and began interested in Name June Paik and his work. This is only touching the surface of Paik's work, but there is too much to write in a short blog post about the man who is considered to be the first video artist! The rest will be talked about in our presentation.

The Expanding Medium: The Future of Computer Art

I found this essay very interesting since I use a computer everyday as a graphic designer. Herbert W Franke talked about a lot of different views and I agree with many of them. The computer is definitely taking over. I liked the quote, "In contrast to classical art, which looks back on thousands of years of history, computer art is a young activity still in its early stages of development. It cannot be mature because its instrumentarium is not yet mature. The artist using a computer depends on the hardware and software accessible for technological, scientific and commercial uses. Fortunately, many solutions to graphic problems are designed so universally that they can also be used for esthetic applications." I've been having problems recently with computers shutting down in the middle of working on projects and my external hard drive has also been an issue. I find it interesting that he says "The artist using a computer depends on the hardware and software accessible for technological, scientific and commercial uses." I've been really thinking about that idea lately and it's frustrating having to depend on technological devices that sometimes don't work the way you need them to. Being a graphic designer, I depend on a computer, but what if it doesn't work properly, or it crashes and all of my work gets deleted? It's scary sometimes having to depend on something that isn't always helpful.

It's interesting that he talks about what the future will be like with computers. I think about this also and I think everything will be taken over by technological devices. It's scary to think that handwriting things might never be used in years from now. It makes you wonder what people skills individuals will have since a lot of communication can be done without ever having to see or talk to someone in person. You can e-mail, blog, and text. There is skype, but even still, you're using a computer to communicate with someone else.