Born Again, 1991

Nam June Paik’s edition Born Again is a sculptural relic cast in bronze from an old Kuba television set – the very model used in a seminal 1963 Fluxus happening at Galerie Parnass in Wuppertal, Germany. By immortalizing the TV set in bronze, Paik transforms a once-ephemeral performance object into a lasting monument, bridging past and present. The work takes on a new life – “reborn” – with its subtly anthropomorphic face: two small video screens for eyes and a third screen as a mouth, embedded into the patinated surface. At once humorous and reverent, Born Again revisits the radical spirit of Fluxus while incorporating fragments of contemporary media, giving a technological icon both a face and a future.