Human life of Paik Nam June is portrayed in a film

The father of video art, the greatest South Korean artist, the eccentric video artist, and so on. Paik Nam June (1932-2006) has so many nicknames. However, this great artist as a human being is never described perfectly by any of his titles. A documentary film, “Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV,” scheduled to be premiered on Dec. 6, portrays his eyes, facial expressions, and gestures to shift the focus to what type of a person he is. It took over five years to produce the first biographical film on Paik.

“Paik claimed that he could speak around 20 languages,” Ken Hakuta, Paik's nephew, says with laughter. “But I cannot understand what Paik says because he is not good at languages.”

Starting with Ken's voice, the film shows Paik inarticulately speaking English, German, French and even Korean. Former Whitney Museum of American Art Director David Ross recalled, smiling, that he had a hard time understanding his way of speaking. In the movie, Paik gives an innocent look at an interviewer, saying that he is surprised that what he says in English is understood. He hops here and there or indulges himself and smells flowers on the pot.

On one side, he was a funny weirdo. On the other hand, Paik was a shining star with his artistic genius and revolutionary ideas. He defied the title of being an artist. He was not interested in a one-size-fits-all type of art, saying that his No. 1 interest is looking at the whole world. This was the way he built his own world.

One of the most influential figures in Paik's life was John Cage, a pioneer of experimental music. Inspired by his radical performance in Munich, Germany, in 1958, Paik confessed that he had turned into a completely different person by the time the show was over. He even said that it was another beginning of his life, adding that Cage gave him a license for destruction.

The film is not limited to his artistic perspectives but focuses on his facial expressions when dealing with the first backfire from the public. When the film is finished, Paik is not remembered as a famous artist but as a human being. The film was directed by Korean-American director and producer Amanda Mei Kim and narrated by Hollywood actor Steve Yeun. Japanese music producer Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-2023), one of Paik's closest friends, worked on its theme song.


Ji-Sun Choi aurinko@donga.com