Video Sonata op. 57, 1995

In this edition, Nam June Paik centers a still from a performance by the Japanese butoh group Sankai Juku, featured in his 1987 video Bye Bye, Kipling. The image is silkscreened onto an aluminum plate, giving the work both material weight and a cool, media-like surface. Bye Bye, Kipling was part of Paik’s groundbreaking satellite project series that connected Seoul, New York, and Tokyo in real time – challenging East-West divisions and celebrating the simultaneity of global culture through live video transmission. Affixed to the lower edge of the image is a small, cartoon-like figure made of stainless steel, complete with engraved details and antennae – part robot, part icon. The playful character anchors the composition with Paik’s signature wit, while symbolizing both the human and mechanical actors that define the media age.