On October 9, the Nam June Paik Art Center opened in Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea.
The Center has been in planning in negotiation with "the father of video art" himself since 2001, but Paik passed away at the end of January 2006 - just days before construction work commenced, and two years and eight months prior to completion. I was invited to a press preview on October 8, before the facility was opened to the general public, so I went to have a look at the Center and the first exhibition there.

Yongin-si is located about one hour by car from Seoul. Several IT-related businesses have settled down in the city, and it boasts such tourist spots as the "Korean Folk Village", but otherwise it rather conveys the image of a typical bed town. The Nam June Paik Art Center is a building of three stories above the ground and two underground stories, with a total floor area of 5,600 square meters. The building was designed by German architects Kirsten Schemel and Marina Stankovic, reportedly inspired by the shape of a grand piano. The frontal view suggests a generally angular design, with beautiful reflections in the paned windows. Built on a gradual slope, the low-rise construction is dominated by relaxed, darkish colors that lend it a sense of solid stability. Considering the fact that it’s a building dedicated to an artist who combined humor and playfulness with destructive impulsiveness, it almost seems a bit too moderate though.

I once saw a performance by Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik back in 1984 at Tokyo’s Sogetsu Hall. Beuys was wearing his trademark fisherman’s vest and felt hat, while Paik appeared in the familiar white-shirt-and-suspenders outfit. The German maestro was yelling while running around on all fours, accompanied by Chopin (I think it was) and nursery rhymes the Korean genius kept playing on a piano. As the madness on stage escalated, at the end of the performance the piano was completely destroyed. It was all some kind of ritual aimed to call back the coyote, the sacred totem of the American aboriginal people. I will never forget the cool, expressionless face of Paik as he played around with the piano.

Now back to the Center. Upon entering, the visitor is first greeted by the famous "fish tank TV". Exhibited in the next room is the "Forest of Cage - Revelation of the Forest", made up of TV monitors scattered among shrubs. A few TV sculptures are placed here and there, and there are lots of library footage, photographs and other documents, as well as the artist’s personal belongings. Altogether it’s basically like a huge archive.

Even though somewhat a last-ditch measure, Lee Youngchul (formerly the Head Curator at Total Museum, and artistic director at the Gwangju Biennale), who was appointed director of the Center only eight months prior to its opening, has in my view worked out a wise strategy for the Center. The idea to gather all of Paik’s most well-known works in one place is unrealistic in the first place, as they are scattered all across the globe, and buying them back would certainly exceed the budget. That’s probably why there is only a minimal number of works by Paik himself on display, but the focus is instead on all kinds of documents and related material. However, since that alone would make the place a static museum, it was decided that there should be works by contemporary artists shown as well. After all, the late Nam June Paik had immeasurable impact on his contemporaries, as well as on following generations of artists.

Library footage of Joseph Beuys

The strategy is definitely correct, and as far as the documentary-style permanent displays are concerned, I think it works well. Next to videos and works by the likes of Beuys, Maciunas, Cage, and other artists of the Fluxus and related movements, there is various interview footage with people including such Japanese artists as Akasegawa Genpei and Takahashi Yuji. As a window providing an overview of the great master’s achievements, the Center does its job well.

William Forsythe, "City of Abstracts"

Annie Vigier & Franck Apertet with Les Gens d'Uterpan, "X-Event 2"

Choreographer Boris Charmatz

The opening exhibition does, however, have its questionable points. The "Now Jump" show that is open through February 5, introduces the works of approximately one hundred artists and groups including creators from the fields of media art, performing arts and architecture. The pieces from the categories of performing arts and installation, represented here by the likes of Ikeda Ryoji, William Forsythe, Romeo Castellucci and Okada Toshiki (chelfitsch), could have been set up in a better way (although the budgetary and time limits probably didn't allow that), but nonetheless it’s indeed an illustrious lineup. It’s just that in some cases the selection is rather baffling, as there isn't really a connection to Nam June Paik. They do of course all belong to the "contemporaries and following generations of artists", but if that’s the only criterion they could have taken any artist, so the half-baked selection involuntarily casts doubt on the organizers' sensitivity and insight.

Tobias Berger

Main curator Tobias Berger took up his post only one month ago, so he was of course not in charge of the opening exhibition, and confessed with a forced smile that he "didn't know the budget in detail yet." However, the Wiesbaden-born German will be the one who steers the ship in the future. Wiesbaden is the city where the first Fluxus festival took place in 1962, and Berger is a veteran curator whose career includes the posts of director at Oakland’s Artspace and Para/Site Art Space in Hong Kong.

In Korea, the Leeum museum and the alternative SSamzie Space announced at short notice that they would stop all their activities — the former due to the scandal around Samsung, who operate the museum, and the latter because it has reportedly "fulfilled its part" (see also the "News" section in the latest issue of "ART iT" magazine). This is a major blow to the Korean art scene, affecting everything from the fosterage of young artists to the introduction of the latest overseas trends. The Nam June Paik Art Center saw the light of day amid the backdrop of this miserable situation, and even though the nosedive of the Won due to the worldwide financial crisis is an additional heavy burden, I hope they will make every effort to get through this.