Symphony No. 5

Symphony No. 5 extends Paik’s reflection on the link between the element of boredom within the core of art, and the concept of temporality. This composition has a duration of a million years and engages performers in a series of actions that continue endlessly. The notion of time passing is a fundamental element of the artwork, reshaping viewers’ perception of time having order and set courses to time simply existing as snippets of temporality.

This work can be traced back to Paik’s essay “Input Time and Output Time,” where he sought to reinterpret and shed a positive perspective on the commonly held view of boredom as nihilistic. It explored how the medium of video art has evolved alongside the nature of time.