National Gallery Singapore presents Asian exclusive survey on pioneering video artist Nam June Paik
National Gallery Singapore stages a major survey of Nam June Paik (1932 – 2006) in a landmark exhibition of the artist who predicted the future of communication and the Internet. The international tour of Nam June Paik: The Future Is Now, concludes in Singapore, its only Asian stop, after it kicked off at London’s Tate Modern in 2019, then toured Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum and San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art.
The exhibition celebrates Paik’s five decades of visionary and playful practice through more than 180 works across all media. Through the early adoption of audio and visual images in his works, he manipulated technology and experimented with the concept of media. In a ground-breaking move, TV monitors were evolved into radical audio-visual sculptures, which no artist had done before. By spotlighting his multidisciplinary and collaborative career which incorporated art, music, performance, and technology, in conversation with philosophies and traditions from Eastern and Western cultures, this retrospective reveals Paik’s prescience and enduring inspiration.
One of the first truly global artists, Paik was born in Seoul, and practiced in Japan, Germany, and the United States. Always innovative, Paik had played a leading role in bridging the gap between art and technology by transforming video into an artist’s medium and exploring the potential of media-based art as early as the 1950s, earning him the recognition as “pioneer of video art”. He coined the term “electronic superhighway” in 1974, when he predicted the future of communication and the Internet, where mass media would play a vital part to transform the way people connect and communicate – the very future the world is living in, right now.
During the nascent stage of globalisation and connectivity, he collaborated with various avant-garde composers like John Cage and featured cultural icons such as David Bowie alongside Ryuichi Sakamoto; he also deliberately strayed out of genres to present art, music, performance, and technology in ground-breaking ways. Paik imagined a future where electronics and nature coexist in TV Garden (1974-1977/2002), an installation comprising numerous CRT TV sets placed amidst lush foliage. Another iconic work is Sistine Chapel (1993), which envelops the audience in mesmerising visuals and booming audio to capture the sublime visual experience at the Vatican’s famous chapel. And before the world warmed up to robots, Paik created John Cage Robot II (1995), a memorable robot figure adorned with piano hammers and keys, that recalls Cage’s radical work, 4’33” comprising three movements of silence.
Dr Eugene Tan, Director of National Gallery Singapore, said, “Beyond illuminating Paik’s artistic legacy that impacted visual culture and generations of artists today, Nam June Paik: The Future Is Now also compels visitors to reflect on their own relationship with technology, as well as its effects and repercussions on society. There are novel and multisensory experiences for everyone to participate in – numerous chances for all to nurture a deeper interest in art and appreciate its fascinating intersections with technology, nature, philosophy, even science. Through this exhibition, we hope to continue inspiring a broad range of audiences with art’s numerous exciting possibilities – which Paik helped to unravel throughout his career.”
Nam June Paik: The Future Is Now is proudly supported by Lead Partner Singtel, Strategic Partners Cultural Matching Fund and Singapore Tourism Board.
Mr Yuen Kuan Moon, Singtel Group Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are delighted to support the Nam June Paik exhibition at the Singtel Special Exhibition Gallery. Paik shares our vision of a world empowered and connected through technology and we believe this will resonate deeply with today’s generation that stands to benefit from even more technological innovation to come. His artwork on our relationship with technology draws parallels to how Singtel is harnessing the power of technology to reimagine the way we work, live and play, improving the lives of all generations and leaving no one behind. We invite visitors to immerse themselves in Paik’s unique world and get into his playful and inventive spirit through the artist’s first major retrospective in Southeast Asia.”
The exhibition is also supported by Terra Foundation for American Art and the U.S. Embassy Singapore, and Exhibition Patrons Pierre & Bolor Lorinet.
Journey the multisensory world of Nam June Paik: Exhibition highlights
Organised across 11 thematic sections, Nam June Paik: The Future Is Now offers an in-depth understanding of his reputation as an artistic forerunner.
The show also documents his creative collaborations with leading artists and art movements. For instance, visitors can learn more about Paik’s pivotal role in Fluxus, an international collective of radically experimental artists founded in the early 1960s, through a dedicated section. Paik’s experimental collaborations with key avant-garde artists Joseph Beuys, John Cage, Charlotte Moorman and Merce Cunningham also span multiple sections of the exhibition, giving a glimpse into the deep friendships and professional partnerships Paik made throughout his prolific career.
Electronic works such as Random Access (1963), an interactive artwork that lets visitors “play” by running the player head over the magnetic tape on the wall, enabling them to produce a mix of sounds that are unique with each composition; and Three Camera Participation (1969), an installation built with TVs and CCTV cameras transmitting overlapping coloured silhouettes of visitors interacting with it will further delight with the variety of Paik’s wide-ranging oeuvre. The Singapore-exclusive section “Paik on Asia”, on the other hand, surfaces Paik’s connection to East Asian philosophy, and features thought-provoking works such as TV Buddha (1974) – an 18th century wooden Buddha that appears to watch itself on a TV set, expressing the contrasts and parallels between technology and spirituality.
Beyond the Singtel Special Exhibition Gallery, several of Paik’s signature works will be found at the revamped Basement Concourse Level. Part of the Gallery’s efforts to provide a more welcoming experience, the new Basement Concourse Level offers free and easy art experiences for all to enjoy and premieres with two of Paik’s well-loved installations, TV Garden and Sistine Chapel.
Complementing the exhibition is a range of interdisciplinary programmes throughout its duration, including lectures, roundtables, reading groups, and video glitching workshops led by artist Lim Shengen that provide deeper insights into the exhibition, its broader context, and emerging modes of artmaking using technology.
The breakthrough show inspires thought with its impressive breadth and depth achieved through the collaborative efforts of all four museums, each one slightly adjusting their respective exhibitions with unique inputs. The Gallery, driven to deliver novel art experiences with a Southeast Asian perspective to its regional audiences, tailors the Singapore exhibition to have a sharper focus on Paik’s background in Asia and feature additional loans from the artist’s estate.
Nam June Paik: The Future is Now will run from 10 December 2021 to 27 March 2022 at the Singtel Special Exhibition Gallery and the Basement Concourse Level (The Spine Hall and Ngee Ann Kongsi Concourse Gallery, B1).
For more information on artwork highlights and individual exhibition sections, please refer to the annex which may be found in the downloadable PDF version of this release. Media assets are accessible via this link. For social media, kindly use #FutureIsNowSG and tag @nationalgallerysingapore. For more details about the exhibition, please visit: www.namjunepaik.sg.