TV Garden was created by Nam-June
Paik in 1974. Nam-June Paik has worked with various media and had found video
art. He led the Neo-Dada art movement, Fluxus, with other artists. This
movement has asserted that people should remove commercialized culture. After
this movement, in the beginning of 1960s, he was influenced by John Cage, and
started using televisions as a medium of art. He had created various art works,
including TV Garden. This garden is both natural and scientific. Nam-June used
various plants to express garden. However, he used television to express
flowers. One of his old friends had said that the inspiration to create TV
Garden was from garden of Nam-June’s old house. Including this piece, many of
his artworks are based on his experience when he was young. Also, he always
wanted make television more nature friendly. The exhibition is surrounded by
different trees and plants and in the middle of those plants, there are 20 to
30 televisions. As audiences walk around the exhibition, they will be freed
from machine civilization and feel more calm.
The
main themes of TV Garden are different perspective and ecology. The televisions
of his TV Garden are airing various videos, including Nam-June Paik’s video
work called, Global Groove. He said that his video portrays the future, where
people can watch any channels in the world on television. He believed that
television could reduce communication gaps in the world and help world peace.
In TV Garden, the trees and televisions compose a garden. In between various
plants, televisions are placed to face upward or are slanted so the audience
cannot watch televisions at the normal viewpoints. When multiple televisions
are places different ways, people are able to see many of them at different
viewpoints. By viewing televisions at different viewpoints, the audience can
see television as a frame that shows regulated subjects. Nam-June Paik suggests
the audience to look and understand the world at various perspectives.
Moreover, by using numerous plants, he is trying to point out that ecology is
the outlook of the world. He says that it is based on people’s belief on
possibility to change and the circulation of the world. Like how the plants are
watered everyday in his exhibition, people should try to change little things
around their lives to improve the world’s ecology.
I
thought this artwork was very beautiful because it is very unique. Nam-June
Paik was one of the first artists to lead media art. He used televisions in
various ways to create numerous artworks. Also, I thought it was very creative
to break out of ordinary and combine nature and media. TV Garden is a unique
artwork that makes audience to have different viewpoints. Moreover, I thought
the combination of plants and televisions to express his thoughts were very effective.
Nam-June Paik once said that nature is beautiful just because it changes, not
because it changes beautifully. I thought it is very clever that he was able to
come up with this idea during 1970s, which is when technology was not developed
a lot. It is a contemporary style of art that was new to late 1900s and it
bridged the gap between 1900s arts and 2000s arts. I personally think that this
is very beautiful just by looking at it, which was why I was intrigued at
first. It is very inspirational piece of art that requires the audience to
think deeply about this artwork. There is a Nam-June Paik Art Center in Korea,
which I have never been to before, and I want to visit there when I go back to
Korea this summer.
This is very interesting, I have never heard of the TV garden before this post but it seems like a must see. I believe that your biography helped contribute to understanding the themes about the garden. The lack of communication among others and the increase of media has stopped people from enjoying activities besides watching television. I feel that this artist captured that idea and the issue of lack of communication has increased as advancement in technology has increased. Since the artist uses contemporary art, does he have other artwork that reflects the rise of technology and the downfall of communication in a method similar to the garden?
답글삭제This is such an amazing and genius idea as an artist. This garden is a different look at technology and nature together. Many people usually see technology harming the Earth and plants. I enjoy how the artists wants to change people’s views and incorporates TVs as flowers in his garden. I would not think about TVs and gardens bringing peace to the world. Nam-June Paik’s interpretation of the future and what TVs can do for society are almost odd, yet very pleasing. I enjoyed how you wrote that the art piece is beautiful because it is unique. It most certainly is, but sometimes unique is better. I would really want to visit this TV garden and feel the peace Nam-June Paik wants the audience to sense.
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