Note: If you see this text you use a browser which does not support usual Web-standards. Therefore the design of Media Art Net will not display correctly. Contents are nevertheless provided. For greatest possible comfort and full functionality you should use one of the recommended browsers.
Nam June Paik «German Pavilion: Marco Polo» | German Pavilion: Electronic Superhighway
Nam June Paik, «German Pavilion: Marco Polo», 1993
German Pavilion: Electronic Superhighway | Photograph: Roman Mensing/artdoc.de http://www.artdoc.de | © Nam June Paik
Paik developed the idea of an 'Electronic Superhighway' as early as 1974 in his text 'Media Planning for the Postindustrial Society'. In 1992 Bill Clinton made building a 5 billion dollar 'Data Superhighway' the central plank of his election campaign. Paik's ironic comment: 'Bill Cinton pinched my idea.' And so he dedicated one of his large video wall multimonitor installations to this theme. A video montage runs simultaneously on several channels, extending from John Cage to quotations from Paik's satellite broadcast 'Wrap around the World'. In future a spectator on a media highway will have a similarly varied selection available and will have the sense of a the 'Global Groove', which Paik conjured up in his 1973 videotape.


 Nam June Paik
«German Pavilion: Marco Polo»

Nam June Paik was invited to represent Germany at the Venice Biennial with Hans Haacke in 1993. Hans Haacke used the central space in the pavilion and Paik used the two side wings and the exterior. The jury awarded him a 'Golden Lion'. Paik's central motif is the connection between Asia and Europe, which Marco Polo first described in his famous journey from Venice to Ulan Bator. Thus this figure represents Marco Polo's metamorphosis in an age of global media communication.