Media Art Net | Paik, Nam June: German Pavilion: Marco Polo

Nam June Paik «German Pavilion: Marco Polo» | German Pavilion: Sistine Chapel before Restoration

Nam June Paik, «German Pavilion: Marco Polo», 1993
German Pavilion: Sistine Chapel before Restoration | Photograph: Roman Mensing/artdoc.de http://www.artdoc.de | © Nam June Paik

The interior of the second side wing of the pavilion is completely occupied with a typical mixture of Paik's video projections. The restoration of Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel was being paid for by a Japanese TV station – in Venice the Korean responds to this by recreating the ceiling media-specifically.

Categories: Sculpture | Installation

Keywords: Globalization | Space

Works by Nam June Paik:

Action with a violin on a string (staged during «Exposition of Music – Electronic Television») Baroque Laser Buddha documenta-performance Electronic Art II Etude for Piano Exposition of Music – Electronic Television Global Groove Good Morning, Mr. Orwell Hommage à John Cage: Music for Tape Recorder and Piano I-Ching/Et-Ching Kuba-TV Magnet TV Mayor Lindsay McLuhan Caged (in Electronic Art II) One for Violin Solo Participation TV performance in the Ramsbott home Random Access Music: Exposition of Music – Electronic Television Robot K-456 Schallplatten-Schaschlik: Exposition of Music – Electronic Television Simple As Boring As Possible Traitor, you left fluxus (Postcard to Nam June Paik) Triangle tv with microphone TV Set for your Mind TV Story Board TV-Buddha TV-Garden Primitive Music Video-Tape Monthly Magazine Wrap around the World Yellow Peril ! Zen for Film Zen for Head

Photograph: Roman Mensing

Nam June Paik
«German Pavilion: Marco Polo»

Nam June Paik was invited to represent Germany at the Venice Biennial with Hans Haacke in 1993. Hans Haacke used the central space in the pavilion and Paik used the two side wings and the exterior. The jury awarded him a 'Golden Lion'. Paik's central motif is the connection between Asia and Europe, which Marco Polo first described in his famous journey from Venice to Ulan Bator. Thus this figure represents Marco Polo's metamorphosis in an age of global media communication.