Transcending obsolescence in technological ruins? Questions of conservation and presentation in Nam June Paik’s Something Pacific and Rembrandt Automatic

• Main Author: Hanna B. Hölling
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam University Press 2013-01-01
• Series: NECSUS : European journal of media studies
• Online Access: https://www.necsus-ejms.org/test/transcending-obsolescence-in-technological-ruins-questions-of-conservation-and-presentation-in-nam-june-paiks-something-pacific-and-rembrandt-automatic/

Standing amidst the lively garden of the campus of the University of California, San Diego, I am looking at the many television sets, Buddhas, and elements of various electronic devices scattered around. As the first outdoor ensemble of the Korean video artist Nam June Paik (1932-2006), the installation Something Pacific (1986) was installed here almost three decades ago. Although meticulously trimmed, the grass grows over the sculptures just slightly – nature, as time, is taking over the arrangement. There is a particular feeling that is attached to this observation, a feeling of tranquillity, stasis, deactivation, perhaps meditation and somewhat religious emotion. This strangely-arranged ensemble, rather than putting malfunction on display, takes the viewer to the other side (perhaps to nostalgia), questioning the standard of what is expected of media – a desire or even demand to view a transmitted image. It is astonishing in its devotion to stillness and contemplation.