Nam June Paik's Satellite Spectaculars
Nam June Paik
7th House at the Philosophical Research Society and Los Angeles present
Nam June Paik's Satellite Spectaculars feat. Good Morning Mr. Orwell + Wrap Around the World
Sunday May 25, 2025, 7:00pm
At the Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90027
Please email events@prs.org or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions
Tickets: Ticket Price: $12 + fees (In-Person Only Event)
Free to Los Angeles Filmforum members
7th House and Los Angeles Filmforum are proud to co-present an evening of video art pioneer and avant-garde visionary Nam June Paik’s rarely screened, groundbreaking satellite link-up installations – elaborate internationally produced video spectaculars that were recorded, edited, and broadcast live around the world, featuring performances by David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, Merce Cunningham, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Gabriel, Ryuichi Sakamoto and many more!
Korean-born artist Nam June Paik was a seminal figure in video art. His video sculptures, installations, performances and single-channel videos encompassed one of the most influential bodies of work in electronic media art. Merging global communications theories with an irreverent Fluxus sensibility, his work in music, performance and video explored the juncture of art, technology, and popular culture. “In his search for an art that expresses contemporary life in the age of media,” wrote artist/journalist Eduardo Kac, “[Paik] blurs the distinctions between telecommunications and the visual arts; ancient and electronic forms; folk art and high art; East and West; design and beaux arts; objective and subjective time.”
Between 1984 to 1988, Paik orchestrated several radically innovative live video art variety shows, linking up with international TV studios to unite artists from around the globe, emphasizing art’s power to bring humanity together. Satellites around the planet transmitted sound and vision from multiple countries, beamed back to New York City where Paik edited the performances in real time – processing them through video synthesizers and re-transmitting them back to the participating countries’ local TV channels. “As a videoconductor, he...direct[ed] a multicultural and multimedia electronic symphony before a public of millions” (Kac, 1988).
Rarely screened, Los Angeles Filmforum and 7th House are very proud to present two of Paik’s brilliant satellite spectaculars:
Special thanks to The Estate of Nam June Paik and to Jooyoung Friedman -Buchanan of Electronic Arts Intermix.
Good Morning Mr. Orwell
Good Morning Mr. Orwell
Dir. Nam June Paik, 1984, digital, color, sound, 38 min.
GOOD MORNING MR. ORWELL is an edited version of Paik's first international satellite "installation," which was held on New Year's Day 1984. Paik's transcultural satellite extravaganzas link different countries, spaces, and times in often chaotic but entertaining collages of art and pop culture, the avant-garde and television. Good Morning Mr. Orwell, which Paik saw as a rebuttal to Orwell's dystopian vision of 1984, linked France, Germany and the U.S. The event featured vibrant performances by Laurie Anderson, Merce Cunningham, Peter Gabriel and Allen Ginsberg, among many others. Paik coordinated the event and designed the TV graphics that connected the various live and pre-recorded segments. This project can be seen as a development of Paik's thinking on the potential of satellite communication…and realized with his typical pastiche of art, entertainment, and crosscultural juxtapositions. -- Electronic Arts Intermix.
Wrap Around the World
Wrap Around the World
Dir. Nam June Paik, 1988, digital, color, sound, 47 min.
This spectacular satellite link-up, coordinated by Paik, connected the United States, Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan and numerous other countries. David Bowie performs with La, La, La, Human Steps, and carries out a conversation via satellite with Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who also performs. There are also appearances by Merce Cunningham, the Viennese Art Orchestra, a game of elephant soccer in Thailand and a car race in Ireland. The whole event is held together by Paik's video graphics, which includes one of his stacked television sculptures. -- Electronic Arts Intermix.