TV Garden (1974–77/2002)

This exhibition highlight is the iconic Paik work TV Garden that was inspired by the Buddhist belief that all things are interdependent. The artist created a futuristic setting where technology and nature merge (television sets and live plants). The forty-nine television sets that constitute the work feature Paik’s groundbreaking music video Global Groove (1973), Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, chants by the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, a Nigerian dance performance, and Japanese TV ads. This artwork manifests all the leading principles of Paik’s approach to artmaking like the ability to recombine ideas, images, and concepts into new narratives.

Featured image: Nam June Paik – TV Garden, 1974–77/2002 (installation view, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; © Estate of Nam June Paik; photo: Peter Tijhuis