Something Pacific: interactive bank of tv monitors inside Media Center, UCSD
Creator
Stuart Collection (San Diego, Calif.) Rittermann, Philipp Scholz (American photographer, 1955 CE-) Paik, Nam June (South Korean sculptor, video artist, and performance artist, 1932-2006)
Under copyright Constraint(s) on Use: This work is protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Use of this work beyond that allowed by "fair use" requires written permission of the UC Regents. Responsibility for obtaining permissions and any use and distribution of this work rests exclusively with the user and not the UC San Diego Library. Inquiries can be made to the UC San Diego Library program having custody of the work. Use: This work is available from the UC San Diego Library. This digital copy of the work is intended to support research, teaching, and private study.
Rights Holder and Contact
Rittermann, Philipp Scholz (American photographer, 1955 CE-)
Description
Sculpture and Installations Film, Audio, Video and Digital Art Science, Technology and Industry Paik's Something Pacific for the Stuart Collection was his first permanent outdoor installation. This work relates specifically to its site, which includes the lobby of the university's Media Center as well as the lawns surrounding the building. Outdoors, the work features several ruined televisions embedded in the landscape; some are paired with Buddhas, and one, a tiny Sony Watchman, is topped by a miniature reproduction of Rodin's Thinker. In striking contrast to this video graveyard, the lobby of the Media Center houses one of Paik's lively interactive banks of TV monitors. By means of a control panel, viewers are able to manipulate sequences of Paik's own tapes and broadcast MTV. "These live TVs are wired through MTV which used to be more interesting than it is now. Half of them are also wired through a Fairlight synthesizer so that the images can be manipulated by anyone. It was important to Nam June that this part of the installation be interactive and we are trying to figure out how to continue that aspect when this very old (1985) synthesizer finally fails. The TV sets were replaced in 2004 with new ones donated by Samsung." - Mary Beebe, Stuart Collection Director UC San Diego Library, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0175 (https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/contact) Media Center: University of California, San Diego; La Jolla, California, United States
Type
image
Format
Television monitors; video recordings
Form/Genre
environmental art site-specific works public sculpture television receivers public art Conceptual
Identifier
ark:/20775/bb5462378p
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Meditation Korean Ruins Copies (derivative objects) Nature Religions (concept) Buddhism Landscapes (environments) Humor Contemporary Deterioration Viewers (observers) Mass media Product obsolescence Graveyards Space (composition concept) Technology Rubbish University of California, San Diego--History Environmental art Site-specific works Public sculpture Television receivers Public art Conceptual Pacific Ocean
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.