백남준의 ‘전자초고속도로’ 연구

Abstract

This paper is based on a report written by Nam June Paik in New York in 1974 and submitted to the Rockefeller Foundation, 「Media Planning for the Post Industrial Society: Only 26 years left until the 21st Century (1974)」, and revisits the concept of “Electronic Super Highways”, which Paik first advocated in the report and made his life's work, along with his role as a consultant for the Rockefeller Foundation. Starting with questions such as: why did Paik write multiple reports, how were the concepts and proposals in the reports implemented, and what were the results, the study draws attention to his consultant practices and suggestions that are relatively undiscussed in the evaluation of Paik. This study examines the key concepts and policy proposals of Paik's report as a primary source and explores the artist's perspective on a different layer from the analysis of his artworks. In particular, it analyzes Paik's vision as an artist and consultant in the midst of revolutionary social change in New York as a clue to the context in which the report was written. Paik's role as a consultant to universities, broadcasters, and the private foundation leads to the conclusion that the close links between funding for Television/Video/Film, video artists, museums, and cultural policy have contributed to the realization of his idea of the Electronic Super Highways. This study restores his consultant practice to a meaningful place in current evaluations of Paik, and captures the influence of the artist's expanded practice on the development of video art and institutional changes in art museums in the 1970s.