South Korean Artist Nam June Paik Exhibition Opens in Rio

By Beatriz Miranda, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Today, June 27th, the exhibition “Retrospectiva Nam June Paik” opens at Oi Futuro in Flamengo. Displaying fifteen pieces, the exhibition honors the South Korean artist Nam June Paik, who innovated the field in the 1960s with the introduction of technology in the visual arts.

Curated by Italian Marco Pierini, the exhibition presents Paik’s most interesting artistic experiences, like “Sfera/Punto electronic” (1990-1992), a curious work that gathers 26 TV monitors, three soccer balls, five laser paintings and a laser disc.

In the work “Violoncello” (1989), Paik made an object out of cello pieces and plexiglass material. Considered a symbolic piece of art, “Violoncello” reminds the audience of Paik’s partnership with musician Charlotte Moornan, with whom he produced the performative “Opera Sextronique” (1967), mixing music and visual arts.

“The retrospective Nam June Paik is a tribute to the creator of new paths in the 1960s, which have been tread until the present day, in the digital era, pursuing a language convergence to amplify the understanding we have of art”, explains the Culture Manager of Oi Futuro, Roberto Guimarães.

Also being displayed at the exhibition is the robot “Ecce Homo” (1989), a notorious work from Paik’s “Robot Series” which participated in “Robot Opera”, the first artistic partnership between Moornan and Paik. Representing the artist’s production from the 1980s will be “Maria Callas”, a work combining TV monitor to daily life objects.

Emblematic, “Maria Callas” characterizes the period when Paik started to absorb influences from the Italian opera: “the opera represents what I am looking for in the electronic art, in the sense of reaching that degree of performative success that the best opera does”, revealed the artist.

“The exhibition brings Paik’s late production, when the video-installation, the performance, the sonorous works and the painting are incorporated to the so called “satelital” works, satellite television broadcasting with images that were mixed and modified by Paik in real time”, says curator Marco Pierini.

Nam June Paik is considered one of the creators of the video art language. He has participated in Fluxus, a 1960s movement that aimed to make art more popular, bringing unusual elements to it. Paik’s career includes partnerships with names like Salvador Dalí, John Cage and Merce Cunningham.

What: Retrospectiva Nam June Paik
When: Tuesday, June 27th – Sunday, August 27th – 11AM to 8PM
Where: Rua Dois de Dezembro, 63 – Flamengo – Tel: (21) 3131-3060
Entrance: FREE