Nam June Paik: Art in Process

Surveying the work of video art pioneer Nam June Paik, this volume highlights the artist’s radical engagement with process.

Nam June Paik (1932-2006) broke new
ground in late twentieth-century art, working on a global stage to transform
video into an art medium. This book reflects on Paik’s working method as well
as the ideas and materials that inspired his art practice. It was published
on the occasion of a two-part exhibition at Gagosian, New York, curated by
John G. Hanhardt, one of the foremost scholars of Paik’s work. Nam June
Paik: Art in Process highlights the centrality of process and exploration
across Paik’s career-through his pioneering manipulated televisions from the
early 1960s to live global satellite telecasts, large-scale video sculptures,
drawings, and the late-style painted TVs-and provides an opportunity to
follow Paik’s lifelong engagement with new media and the development of his
own singular visual language. Highlights include Paik’s painted sections of
the Berlin Wall (2005); Beuys Projection (1990), Paik’s
powerful video interpretation of his performance with Joseph Beuys in Tokyo;
and his celebrated One Candle, Candle Projection (1988-2000),
a live video installation of candlelight.

With essays by John G. Hanhardt and Gregory Zinman, the book features extensive
illustrations including numerous full-page plates and details, a foldout of
the score for Paik’s Symphony for 20 Rooms (1961), as well as rarely
seen archival photographs by Peter Moore (1932-1993) documenting Paik’s early
performances.