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After working secretly in his studio for several weeks, Nam June Paik (1932-2006) opened his first solo exhibition, tided Exposition of Music-Electronic Television, at the Galerie Parnass in Wuppertal, Germany, on March 11, 1963. The exhibition covered sixteen rooms throughout the house of art dealer Rolf Jährling, owner of Galerie Parnass. Exploring the dual themes of music and television, the exhibition featured Fluxus-inspired objects such as prepared pianos, sound objects, and tiered record players, as well as roomsized installations inviting visitor interaction. In a work tided Random Access, for example, a visitor "plays" unspooled audiotape through a handheld sound device. An installation photo taken by Jährling of the television room is perhaps the most well known. It features three black-and-white television sets scattered at various angles around the floor of a large room. The sets are individually manipulated so their screens display distorted, abstract images. Paik is seen leaving the dimly lit room, walking toward a glowing hallway, hands casually in his pockets. Visitors such as the woman standing in the doorway at the left are then able to interact with the televisions at will. The artist, off-center with his back turned, is secondary' to the main focus of the image, the televisions themselves. The emphasis is on visitor participation and the fleeting nature of chance operations. The photo itself, a blurry snapshot taken by the dealer to record the proceedings, represents the residue of a one-time event. Forever looking backward, it turns the viewer's attention to a past moment, an evening that has already transpired. The exhibition itself focuses on participation and indeterminacy, but the still photograph retains no such sense of open play. The artist's work is complete; he moves on to the next project, unaware that a photo is being taken and seemingly unconcerned about the future impact of this particular image.
The following year in New York City, at the first Cinematheque festival, Paik stood in front of an audience of avant-garde artists, musicians, and filmmakers to present fen for Film (1964). In this hour-long performance, a blank film was projected onto a screen. Dust particles accumulated on the transparent tape as it fed through the moving projector and were enlarged onto a blank white wall. The work was a direct...