Nam June Paik: Electronic Television, at The Chrysler Museum (Norfolk)

On View November 7, 2025 — April 26, 2026

In 1963, Nam June Paik (American, b. Korea, 1932–2006) opened his first major exhibition at Galerie Parnass in Wuppertal, Germany. Titled Exposition of Music – Electronic Television, the work included multimedia installations and modified TV sets and marked Paik’s transition to experiments with the electronic image. He would soon become known as a pioneering figure in the field of video art, transforming the television screen into an artistic medium and reshaping visual culture.

This exhibition features Paik’s video manifesto Global Groove (1973), which opens with the bold proclamation: “This is a glimpse of a new world when you will be able to switch on every TV channel in the world and TV guides will be as thick as the Manhattan telephone book.” The video drifts from one scene to the next, a frenetic blend of cultural performances, newsreels, politicians, and dancers. Paik’s fascination with media evoked what he called the “electronic superhighway,” and he predicted television to be an essential conduit for communications.

Two additional works from the Chrysler Museum’s collection, Hamlet Robot (1996) and Dogmatic (1996), further highlight the centrality of the television screen in Paik’s artwork. Installing these works in the McKinnon Modern and Contemporary Galleries and the Box celebrates Paik and affirms the ubiquity of the moving image that pervades contemporary culture today.