Performing Paik, Connecting the World

Born in present-day South Korea in 1932, Nam June Paik is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, and a key figure in the avant-garde movements of that time. He is best known for his pioneering work in the use of the electronic moving image in art, but his experimental spirit resulted in him producing work in a variety of artistic genres, including sculpture, music and performance, and live broadcasting.

In this joint lecture, co-curators of the exhibition Rudolf Frieling (SFMOMA) and Sook-Kyung Lee (Tate Modern) will briefly trace Paik’s legacy by focusing on some of Paik’s key works. They will also address multiple intersecting narratives of music and performance, collaboration and artistic networks, as well as transnational interests and trajectories.

This programme is made possible with the support of U.S. Embassy Singapore.

About the Speakers

Rudolf Frieling is Curator of Media Arts at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He is the co-curator of the retrospectives Nam June Paik (2019–2021), Suzanne Lacy: We Are Here (2019), Bruce Conner: It’s All True (2016–2017), and the survey Soundtracks (2017). Other exhibitions include Stage Presence: Theatricality in Art and Media (2012) and The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now (2008). He also collaborated on the SFMOMA presentation of the traveling exhibition Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera (2010) and oversaw the exhibition William Kentridge: Five Themes (2009). Frieling is also Senior Adjunct Professor at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and has lectured on media history and theory at institutions nationally and internationally. He holds an M.A. from the Free University Berlin and a Ph.D. from the University of Hildesheim.

Sook-Kyung Lee is Senior Curator, International Art (Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational) at Tate Modern. She is co-curator of Nam June Paik (2019–2021) and has curated collection exhibitions and displays at Tate Modern, such as A Year in Art: Australia 1992 (2021–2022), CAMP: From Gulf to Gulf to Gulf (2019–2020) and Xiao Lu and Niki de Saint Phalle (2018–2019). Lee was previously Exhibitions & Displays Curator at Tate Liverpool and curated a number of exhibitions and collection displays, including Doug Aitken: The Source and Thresholds (2012–2013, as part of Liverpool Biennial). She served as the Commissioner and Curator of the Korean Pavilion at the 56^th Venice Biennale (2015).