Summary Of TV Bra For Living Sculpture By Nam June Paik

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Nam June Paik’s performance art piece entitled TV Bra for Living Sculpture was one of Paik’s more influential works whose subject matter centered on the progression of technology. Performance art, which is a theatrical way of staging art, was a specialty of Paik’s. He was an essential pioneer in the crusade to incorporate moving images into artistic mediums, a seriously radical invention of the twentieth century. Paik was renowned for his ability to present serious content in radical self-parodies. This particular piece was created from a collaboration with Charlotte Moorman, an avant-garde cellist who shared similar beliefs with Paik. The significance of the time period in which TV Bra for Living Sculpture was created had everything to do …show more content…

Paik was widely known for his ability to create art that was “embraced around the world and changed global visual culture” (“Nam June Paik Archive”). This notoriety would be extremely significant in his venture to illustrate to the world his hopes for humanizing said technology. He believed the consequences would be dire if we did not begin to turn television and other inventions into something more than mindless brainwashing. This belief is what helped to inspire Paik to place the cubed televisions on Moorman’s bra—the most intimate part of a woman. It would draw more attention to the topic, and bring sensuality and technology together in order to humanize …show more content…

I was born in the late 90’s—an era where television was not necessarily incredibly new and shocking, but it was certainly still a privilege to have one in your household. Gratitude for this privilege was wildly illustrated through the use of the television. However, my parents were also adamant that my childhood would not be consumed entirely by the television. They shaped my current belief that though technology is an amazing feat, it is often used in a mindless manor that does no good to the human brain or human life. I immediately connected with this piece of Paik’s because of the contradiction, and yet intense synchronicity, of classical music, modern technology, and sexuality. These three components would never have been thought to coincide, but it is because of them that Paik’s underlying message is able to be conceived by viewers. Not to mention, I can vividly recall my father referring to the television as the “boob tube.” Though I’m positive he did not coin this phrase, it was a comical saying in our household and to see Paik reuse it brings a bout of nostalgia to mind. The simplicity of the black and white, as well as the intense yet plain expression on Moorman’s face, with her fingers poised perfectly on the strings, illustrates Paik’s message without use of words. I feel a strong compelling towards pieces of art that needn’t scrawl their theme in bright red letters across the canvas, but

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