Nam June Paik: Becoming a Robot

Nam June Paik also known as the father of video art was born in Seoul, Korea was intrigued with combining the human body with technological art. He was the first videographer to experiment with developing a new kind of art form that combined electronic media such as TV screens with sound and even live performance.

On his mission to interpret the human body through several of his pieces, Nam June Paik created the “Family of Robot”. The “Family”, although is being exhibited together at the Asia society was separated for many years. The three sculptures represent the mom, dad, and baby. Descendants of robot k-456 one of Paik’s most famous interactive robot pieces, the three robots that are being exhibited come from a series of robots that represent a three-generation family including grandparents, parents and children.

Collectively it is recognizable which robot is which by shape, size and body form of each individual piece. The mother robot differs in form from the father and child because she has wider hips and a slim waist. Where as the father appears to have broad shoulders and is a few inches taller than the mother.

Head size seems to be one of Paik’s many tactics to portray a gender difference. The baby as oppose to the mother and father has no shape and maintains a very rectangular torso. As a child who is not yet developed, robot baby doesn’t seem to portray a gender and consists of the same size screens all through out the sculpture.

Robots mom and dad, had different shaped TV screens in different sections of their bodies in order to enhance interpretation of gender and age. The robots show a series of random images through the screens that add a more technological abstract touch to the exhibition.

I chose this piece because Nam June Paik is in a sense portraying what is happening today with smart phones. The screens all over the human sculptures represent not just abstraction, but how electronics have become a part of the self.

Whether it was through provocative interpretation or experimental robots with his trademark use of screens, Paik was an example of a proactive individual who loved his work. Needless to say it would be interesting to know what he would think about how people currently interact with technology on a day-to-day basis like the use of smartphones.