TV-Buddha

TV-Buddha

TV Buddha (1974) Closed Circuit video installation with bronze sculpture. [1]

This work was produced as a gap-filler for an empty wall in Nam June Paik’s fourth show in the Galeria Bonino, New York. Shortly before the opening, he hit upon the idea of making a TV viewer out of an antique Buddha statue once purchased as an investment. The subsequent addition of a video camera meant the Buddha now watched his videotaped image on the screen opposite – past and present gaze upon each other in an encounter between Oriental deity and Western media.[2] Paik has also managed to create an infinite loop.

[1] http://www.paikstudios.com/gallery/1.html

[2] http://www.mediaartnet.org/works/tv-buddha/>