The documentary Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV, which explores the groundbreaking video artist’s life and work, is like nothing Paik ever would have made himself. It’s far too straightforward and chronological, far too concerned with presenting things in a clear and comprehensive fashion — whereas Paik spent most of his career seriously messing things up, whether he was doing it with musical instruments, television sets or live TV broadcasts distorted through time and space.
But that doesn’t mean director Amanda Kim’s first feature isn’t worth a look. For anyone interested in the origins of what we now call video art, not to mention mass media and the internet, it’s essential viewing. Paik was a true visionary who foresaw the virtual world we now live in, and Kim’s film chronicles how he channeled that vision through madcap sculptures and installations that took...
But that doesn’t mean director Amanda Kim’s first feature isn’t worth a look. For anyone interested in the origins of what we now call video art, not to mention mass media and the internet, it’s essential viewing. Paik was a true visionary who foresaw the virtual world we now live in, and Kim’s film chronicles how he channeled that vision through madcap sculptures and installations that took...
- 1/26/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Dogwoof has picked up Amanda Kim’s documentary on the contemporary artist Nam June Paik for world sales, excluding North America and South Korea.
“Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV” is set to world premiere on Jan. 22 at Sundance as part of the U.S. Documentary Competition.
Paik, one of the most famous Asian artists of the 20th century, revolutionized the use of technology as an artistic canvas and invented the video synthesizer. He is credited with coining the term “electronic super highway,” which was the title of one of his most famous works that involved more than 300 TV sets.
The film will trace Paik’s life from childhood as he traveled across the world. He fled to Japan from his native Korea at the outbreak of the Korean War, before moving to Germany and subsequently to New York City where he settled in 1964.
The film will include...
“Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV” is set to world premiere on Jan. 22 at Sundance as part of the U.S. Documentary Competition.
Paik, one of the most famous Asian artists of the 20th century, revolutionized the use of technology as an artistic canvas and invented the video synthesizer. He is credited with coining the term “electronic super highway,” which was the title of one of his most famous works that involved more than 300 TV sets.
The film will trace Paik’s life from childhood as he traveled across the world. He fled to Japan from his native Korea at the outbreak of the Korean War, before moving to Germany and subsequently to New York City where he settled in 1964.
The film will include...
- 1/9/2023
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Maverick artist Nam June Paik will be the subject of a new feature-length documentary that will highlight unseen footage and archival materials. The currently untitled production will be completed in 2022. Oscar nominee and “Minari” star Steven Yeun and hip-hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy have joined the project as executive producers.
Paik is often referred to as the “Father of Video Art” and was a prophet of the internet, as well as a visionary and futurist. Adopting technology to transform the way we see the world, he was one of the first to use television as an artist’s canvas and invented the video synthesizer. In the 1970s, he coined the term “Electronic Superhighway” and predicted the future of communication in the digital age. He launched a series of the world’s first global satellite art events, bridging the gap between East and West, pop and avant-garde and all genres of art...
Paik is often referred to as the “Father of Video Art” and was a prophet of the internet, as well as a visionary and futurist. Adopting technology to transform the way we see the world, he was one of the first to use television as an artist’s canvas and invented the video synthesizer. In the 1970s, he coined the term “Electronic Superhighway” and predicted the future of communication in the digital age. He launched a series of the world’s first global satellite art events, bridging the gap between East and West, pop and avant-garde and all genres of art...
- 12/15/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
In a history full of -isms and manifesto-spouting collectives, few major entities in the art world are as hard to nail down as Fluxus. Was it a movement, theory or a collective whose members didn't always want to wear its name? Was it just a branding exercise? After nine years of research, Jeffrey Perkins finds that Fluxus was, above all, George Maciunas — an entrepreneurial Lithuanian emigrant who coined the name near the dawn of the '60s and spent the rest of his life decreeing what was and wasn't in Flux. Quite enjoyable even if it leaves viewers hardly feeling...
- 2/23/2018
- by John DeFore
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Youth On The MARCHThere are 48 individual films screening in the Wavelengths section of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The relative importance of this section, amidst the vast array of offerings in this relatively huge festival, depends on your taste in movies, of course, to say nothing of your specific objectives. If you’re coming to Toronto to try to score a hot tip in this year’s Oscar race, well . . . I feel sorry for you on a number of levels. But Wavelengths is unlikely to be your jam. Originally conceived exclusively as a showcase for experimental and non-narrative films (hence the section’s title, a direct tribute to avant-garde master and Toronto native son Michael Snow), Wavelengths now encompasses the edgier, less commercial side of art cinema. This is the first of two preview essays, and my aim is to cover everything in the section. These are the...
- 9/12/2015
- by Michael Sicinski
- MUBI
Hey, if it’s Christmas Eve, then it’s time to celebrate the birthday of a very jolly ol’ soul, Jonas Mekas, the Godfather of Underground Film. Face it, without Jonas promoting the underground as fiercely as he did back in the ’60s, then most of us who are into this unique art form probably wouldn’t be here celebrating it, much less making it. So, here’s to you Jonas, who turns 92 today!
The above embedded video is an excerpt from a 1992 documentary by Lars Movin called The Misfits: 30 Years of Fluxus. In the clip, Jonas discusses one of his favorite subjects, his best friend, the late artist George Maciunas, who helped co-found the Filmmakers Cinematheque in 1967 at 80 Wooster Street in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. The Cinematheque was the foundation of what was eventually to become the Anthology Film Archives, which — like Jonas — is currently going...
The above embedded video is an excerpt from a 1992 documentary by Lars Movin called The Misfits: 30 Years of Fluxus. In the clip, Jonas discusses one of his favorite subjects, his best friend, the late artist George Maciunas, who helped co-found the Filmmakers Cinematheque in 1967 at 80 Wooster Street in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. The Cinematheque was the foundation of what was eventually to become the Anthology Film Archives, which — like Jonas — is currently going...
- 12/24/2014
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
His films captured John Lennon in bed, the Velvet Underground deafening a roomful of psychiatrists, and New York during the high point of the last real avant garde. Adrian Searle tunes into a remarkable retrospective
The films of Jonas Mekas are fragments of a life passing. His show at London's Serpentine Gallery is filled with these moments from his long and interesting life; people he has met, events he witnessed and took part in, places he has been. And everywhere we keep coming across his voice, recalling the past, composing a love letter to his adopted New York, commenting, reading a poem, singing.
And always there are images. Images projected and playing on banks of monitors. Cacophanies, excerpts, new things and old footage, portraits, stills and blow-ups. You plunge in to this partial and personal selection of work, never quite knowing how long you'll be detained. The filmmaker's voice, engaged,...
The films of Jonas Mekas are fragments of a life passing. His show at London's Serpentine Gallery is filled with these moments from his long and interesting life; people he has met, events he witnessed and took part in, places he has been. And everywhere we keep coming across his voice, recalling the past, composing a love letter to his adopted New York, commenting, reading a poem, singing.
And always there are images. Images projected and playing on banks of monitors. Cacophanies, excerpts, new things and old footage, portraits, stills and blow-ups. You plunge in to this partial and personal selection of work, never quite knowing how long you'll be detained. The filmmaker's voice, engaged,...
- 12/10/2012
- by Adrian Searle
- The Guardian - Film News
Jonas Mekas, 'the godfather of avant-garde cinema', talks to Sean O'Hagan about working with Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali and Jackie Kennedy
Jonas Mekas, who will be 90 on Christmas Eve, has an intense memory of sitting on his father's bed, aged six, singing a strange little song about daily life in the village in which he grew up in Lithuania.
"It was late in the evening and suddenly I was recounting everything I had seen on the farm that day. It was a very simple, very realistic recitation of small, everyday events. Nothing was invented. I remember the reception from my mother and father, which was very good. But I also remember the feeling of intensity I experienced just from describing the actual details of what my father did every day. I have been trying to find that intensity in my work ever since."
We are sitting at a table in...
Jonas Mekas, who will be 90 on Christmas Eve, has an intense memory of sitting on his father's bed, aged six, singing a strange little song about daily life in the village in which he grew up in Lithuania.
"It was late in the evening and suddenly I was recounting everything I had seen on the farm that day. It was a very simple, very realistic recitation of small, everyday events. Nothing was invented. I remember the reception from my mother and father, which was very good. But I also remember the feeling of intensity I experienced just from describing the actual details of what my father did every day. I have been trying to find that intensity in my work ever since."
We are sitting at a table in...
- 12/2/2012
- by Sean O'Hagan
- The Guardian - Film News
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