Nam June Paik

born in Seoul (Korea) in July, 20th 1932 as the fifth son of a textile manufacturer

1950
the Paik family flees from the Korean War, first to Hong Kong, and later to Japan

1956
Paik graduates from the University of Tokyo, concluding his studies of the History of Art and Music with a thesis on Arnold Schonberg

1956-1958
studies the History of Music at Munich University; meets Karl-Heinz Stockhausen; studies Composition at Freiburg Conservatory

1958-1963
meets John Cage; works in the Studio für elektronische Musik /WDR, Cologne

1959-1962
has appearances with pieces of his action music; Stockhausen's "Originale"is performed in Cologne

1963
participates in "Fluxus. Internationale Festspiele neuester Musik / Wiesbaden; Exposition of Musik / Electronic Television, the first exhibition including TV monitors, is shown at Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal

1963-1964
travels to Japan; meets Shuya Abe; experiments with electromagnets and colour television; visits New York, collaborates with Charlotte Moorman

1965
First solo exhibition Electronic Art in the USA at Galeria Bonino, NewYork; buys the first portable video recorder

1966-1969
First multi-monitor installations; works with magnetically distorted TV recordings; Electronic Opera No. 1 is performed at the live program "The Medium is the Medium", GBH-TV, Boston

1969-1970
With Shuya Abe constructs the video synthesizer

1971
Works at WNET's TV lab, New York

1976
retrospective at Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne

Since 1979
chair at Staatliche Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf

1982
Retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

January 1st, 1984
Satellite broadcast of Good Morning Mr. Orwell from the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and a WNET-TV studio, New York

1987
Elected a member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin

1988
Erects a media tower The more the better from 1003 monitors for the Olympic Games at Seoul

1990
Video Arbour is put up in Philadelphia as a sculpture for the public sector

1991-1992
Double exhibition "Video Time - Video Space" at Kunsthalle Basel and Zurich, subsequently shown in Düsseldorf and Vienna

Receives the Kaiserring, art award of Goslar

1993
Nam June Paik represents with Hans Haake the XLV Venice Biennale d' Arte

1998
Receives Kyoto Award

1999-2000

Fluxus/Video, Kunsthalle und Kunstverein Bremen

2000
Receives National Arts Club Award
Retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York: The Worlds of Nam June Paik. The exhibition travels to Ho-Am Art Gallery and the Rodin Gallery, Seoul Korea

Paik received numerous grants and awards from: the Guggenheim Museum, the
Rockefeller Foundation, and the American Film Institute; Will Grohmann
Award, Goslar Emperor's Ring, UNESCO's Picasso Medal

Paik lived and worked in New York, Düsseldorf and Bad Kreuznach

2006 † Nam June Paik died in Miami, USA