Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV

A vital portrait of a one-of-a-kind artist whose undeniable legacy reverberated throughout the art world.

Foremost video artist and avant-garde musician, Nam June Paik was thought of as the Nostradamus of the digital age. Aside from his genre-defying music experimentations, the Korean artist's multi-screen installations presciently forecasted the ubiquity of digital screens in our lives and in a seminal 1974 report for the Rockefeller Foundation, he speculated the emergence of an "Electronic Superhighway" (a term he coined). Paik essentially predicted the internet, seeing it as an ocean of information telecasted in a constant stream of everything, everywhere, all at once. A theme he would return to many times throughout his illustrious career and through his multi-media installations.

Amanda Kim’s meticulous and highly entertaining documentary portrait lays out Paik’s journey in becoming a cutting-edge artist, from his lightbulb moment meeting avant-garde composer and lifelong friend John Cage, to his involvement with the anarchic art group Fluxus and his prolific era conquering the New York art scene. Later in his career, Paik’s groundbreaking experimentations with TV broadcasts and portable video cameras came across as too chaotic for some critics but the film never loses sight of Paik’s impish sense of mischief and his abundant spirit to innovate and challenge. As Paik famously stated, "It’s the artists' job to think about the future".

Exclusive to ACMI.

After some extra insight? The screening at 4pm on Saturday 23 September will be followed by a very special Zoom Q&A with director Amanda Kim.