Nam June Paik: I Expose the Music

Nam June Paik: I Expose the Music

The exhibition features around 100 works, including installations, sculptures, audio and video pieces, unconventional scores, instructions, concepts, as well as photo documents and posters. It vividly illustrates how audiences experienced and actively participated in Paik’s performances, whether in gallery spaces or through live television broadcasts. For the first time in Germany, visitors will have the opportunity to see the powerful sound and visual installation Sistine Chapel (1993), which presents a remix of Paik’s specific pop/cultural history and serves as an early example of multimedia immersion.

The exhibition references the Museum Ostwall’s collection, which focuses on Fluxus. One of the central works in the exhibition, Paik’s key piece Schallplatten-Schaschlik (1963/1980), allows visitors to create their own music mix. Additional chapters of the exhibition explore Paik’s collaborations with Charlotte Moorman, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Dieter Roth. Various interactive works by Paik also engage the audience in this exhibition, such as Random Access (1963) and Participation TV (1969/1982), where visitors can generate electronic sounds or images.

The unrealized Sinfonie for 20 Rooms from 1961 serves as the starting point for four artistic interventions by Annika Kahrs (DE), Autumn Knight (US), Aki Onda (JP), and Samson Young (HK). They will use Paik’s score as inspiration for site-specific installations and performances.

Learn more at dortmunder-u.de/event/nam-june-paik