Video-Film Concert

Nam June Paik and Jud Yalkut
1966-72, 1992, 34:50 min, b&w and color, sound, 16 mm film on video
1967-69, 1992, 4:01 min, b&w, sound
 
1966-72, 1992, 2:59 min, color, sound
 
1966-72, 1992, 4:52 min, color, sound
 
1965-71, 1992, 10 min, color, sound
 
1966-72, 1992, 6:41 min, color, sound
 
1966-72, 1992, 8:18 min, color, sound
 

This restored collection of rare early collaborative works by Nam June Paik and Jud Yalkut is historically significant as well as remarkably prescient. Recorded between 1967 and 1972, these "video-films" reveal insights into the evolution of Paik's work in video, performance and installation, and are among the earliest explorations of the interfacing of film and video. They are marked by a playful, irreverent sense of improvisation and experimentation. Richly inventive and ironic, these experiments form a link between Paik's performance and sculptural works of the 1950s and early 1960s and the celebrated video works and installations of later years.

These seminal collections include early examples of mass media appropriation, deconstruction and manipulation as cultural and political critique. For example, Video Tape Study No.3 is a direct media intervention, in which Paik distorts and manipulates footage from news conferences by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and New York Mayor Lindsey. In a witty performative gesture, Paik briefly asserts his presence by waggling his finger at the screen.

Waiting for Commercials — a hilarious compendium of Japanese TV commercials from the 1970s — is an early example of Paik's use of appropriated television imagery as pop cultural artifact. Beatles Electronique reveals his engagement with manipulation of pop icons. Several pieces, including Electronic Fables, are examples of Paik's early experiments with electronic image manipulation, prior to his invention of the Paik/Abe Video Synthesizer. This piece also makes use of anecdotes by John Cage, who was a major influence as well as a collaborator of Paik.

Video Tape Study No. 3: Sound: David Behrman & Kenneth Werner. Beatles Electroniques: Sound: Kenneth Werner. Electronic Moon No. 2: Sound: Debussy.

 
 

PLEASE NOTE: Allow extra lead-in time if you are planning a public screening or exhibition of Nam June Paik's single screen video works. All such orders must be forwarded by EAI to the Paik Studio for their agreement before any event can be confirmed.

This is a video transfer of a work initially shot on film. This is best shown as a projection, to reflect the original medium.
Projection Installation Checklist & Guidelines

 
 

See also