korean video artist nam june paik's father was a textile manufacturer; other than that, he had little to do with the medium, and certainly very little to do with it in his art. but upon reading one article about him in korean quarterly, i knew i would soon be adding him to my list of heavy-duty inspirations and influences (along with leigh bowery* and chunghie lee.)
nam june paik's video arbor installation was placed in philadelphia in 1990. while the website of the residential complex that boasts it still uses a very early photograph of the arbor, ben and i visited it last night to find it significantly changed. here's what the video arbor looks like today.
even before we visited i felt my knitting fingers itching to pay tribute, and envelope my brain, in paik's work. although officially begun before ever hearing of nam june paik, a very clear concept has since presented itself to me, and an in-progress post will not be far behind.
both ben and i are in very fecund states of mind right now, both of us dropping utensils and tools in the midst of regular household duties and running to the computer or notebook to write something down. that's how summer is; like the wisteria vines on the video arbor (as well as the ones on the front of our house!): you can almost sit and watch it grow, even when you're the thing that's growing.
(play a little "where's waldo" on the paik studios website and see if you can find george plimpton. or, watch this very pretty, trancy little video clip from paik's memorial exhibition.)
* having mentioned leigh, and playing "find the public figure" trivia, here is an interesting bowery-related image. you'll have to scroll down a few entries to find it; see the man taking the photo in the mirror? it is author william gibson (the photo is from his blog).