Abstract

SARRIUGARTE GOMEZ, Iñigo. Nam June Paik: el "Aprendiz de brujo" tecnológico. En-clav. pen [online]. 2010, vol.4, n.7, pp. 63-78. ISSN 1870-879X.

The Korean artist Nam June Paik has recreated in numerous sculptures and video art works references to the shamanic practices. These rituals Koot were known during his childhood as a habitual practice within the Korean families. After studying music in Japan, he goes to Germany, where knew the avant-garde and experimental musician John Cage, as well as different members from Fluxus, among them Joseph Beuys. The first one introduced him to the knowledge of Zen Buddhism, philosophy that Nam June Paik hadn't studied in his country. The Korean artist materialized this philosophy in different works and, in reference to Fluxus, realized also three-dimensional pieces and happenings that simulated a shamanic attempt of combining harmoniously the western technology and the oriental spirituality, the electronics and the nature, the life and the death.

Keywords : Paik; Video art; Shamanism; Korea; Buddhism.