Nam June Paik Video Innovations :: Essays Papers

Nam June Paik Video Innovations Nam June Paik was born in Seoul, Korea on July 20, 1932. He was the fifth and youngest sister of a textile merchant. In 1947, at the age of 14, he canvass piano and composition with two of Koreas foremost composers. The family moved to Tokyo, japan in 1950 to avoid the havoc of the Korean War. Paik analyze music, history, art history, and philosophy at the University of Tokyo from 1953 to 1956. He did his graduate dissertation on Schoenberg. In 1956, he moved to Germany to pursue his interest in avant-garde music. He studied music history under Thrasybulos Georgiades at the University of Munich and composition under Wolfgang Fortner at the Hochschule fr Musik. He also attended classes under Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luigi Nono, David Tudor, and buns chicken coop. Paik lived in Cologne for the next five years and then returned to Japan for a short time to conduct experiments with electromagnets and color TV sets. In 1964, Paik moved to New York and still resides there today.While he lived in Korea, Paik had become familiar with the work of Schoenberg. Paik was interested in Schoenberg above every(prenominal) others because of his radical compositions. They reflected the social atmosphere of Seoul at the time. In 1947, Paik had just one piece of Schoenbergs work. It took Paik two years to convince a record shop owner to let him listen to what was probably the and Schoenberg record in Korea. Paik had only two compositions by which to judge his guru. then(prenominal) one day in Japan, in 1951, Paik heard a trio piece on NHK Radio. Another of Paiks great put to works was John Cage, whom he met in Germany. Meeting Cage, a student of Schoenberg, was a turning advert in Paiks life. Paiks piece Zen for Film was unimpeachably influenced by Cages 4 33, the silent piece. Cage was devoted to sounds, but Paik was devoted to objects, yet Cages influence is evident in all of Paiks work.Joseph Beuys, like Cage, played an primary(prenominal) role in influencing the direction of Paiks video work. Paiks portraits of Beuys throw a significant body of work.