Nam June Paik
«Electronic Video Recorder»

CAFE AU GO GO – 152 BLEECKER – OCTOBER 4 & 11 1965 – WORLD THEATER – 9PM (A TRIAL PREVIEW TO MAIN NOVEMBER SHOW AT GALLERY BONINO)

THROUGH THE GRANT OF JDR 3RD FUND (1965 SPRING TERM), 5 YEARS OLD DREAM OF ME THE COMBINATION OF ELECTRONIC TELEVISION & VIDEO TAPE RECORDER
IS REALIZED. IT WAS THE LONG LONG WAY, SINCE I GOT THIS IDEA IN COLOGNE RADIO STATION IN 1961, WHEN ITS PRICE WAS AS HIGH AS A HALF MILLION DOLLARS. I LOOK BACK WITH A BITTER GRIN OF HAVING PAID 25 DOLLARS FOR A FRAUD INSTRUCTION ‘BUILD THE VIDEO RECORDER YOURSELF’ AND OF THE DESPERATE STRUGGLE TO MAKE IT WITH SHUYA ABE LAST YEAR IN JAPAN. IN MY VIDEO-TAPED ELECTRO VISION, NOT ONLY YOU SEE YOUR PICTURE INSTANTANEOUSLY AND FIND OUT WHAT KIND OF BAD HABITS YOU HAVE, BUT SEE YOURSELF DEFORMED IN 12 WAYS, WHICH ONLY ELECTRONIC WAYS CAN DO.

* IT IS THE HISTORICAL NECESSITY, IF THERE IS A HISTORICAL NECESSITY IN HISTORY, THAT A NEW DECADE OF ELECTRONIC TELEVISION SHOULD FOLLOW THE PAST DECADE OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC.

** VARIABILITY & INDETERMINISM IS UNDERDEVELOPED IN OPTICAL ART AS PARAMETER SEX IS UNDERDEVELOPED IN MUSIC.

*** AS COLLAGE TECHNIC REPLACED OIL-PAINT, THE CATHODE RAY TUBE WILL REPLACE THE CANVASS.

**** SOMEDAY ARTISTS WILL WORK WITH CAPACITORS, RESISTORS & SEMI-CONDUCTORS AS THEY WORK TODAY WITH BRUSHES, VIOLINS & JUNK.

LASER IDEA NO. 3
BECAUSE OF VVHF OF LASER, WE WILL HAVE ENOUGH RADIO STATIONS TO AFFORD MOZART-ONLY STATIONS, CAGE-ONLY STATIONS, BOGART-ONLY TV STATIONS, UNDERGROUND MOVIE-ONLY TV STATIONS ETC. ETC. ETC.



FLYER DATING FROM 1965 FOR THE FIRST PUBLIC PRESENTATION OF VIDEOTAPES IN THE NEW YORK 'CAFE AU GOGO.' THE POPE’S VISIT WAS ONE OF THE FIRST MOTIFS THAT PAIK RECORDED. THE LAST LINE, SAYS PAIK, ANTICIPATES THE VIDEO SYNTHESIZER. PAIK ORIGINALLY WROTE THE TEXT FOR THE NEW SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH, NEW YORK, IN COLLABORATION WITH BILL WILSON. R EPRINTED IN: NAM JUNE PAIK, ‘VIDEA ‘N’ VIDEOLOGY 1959–1973’, EVERSON MUSEUM OF ART, SYRACUSE, N. Y., 1974, UNNUMBERED.