Nam June Paik

American, born South Korea (Seoul, South Korea, 1932 - 2006, Miami Beach, Florida)

Egg Grows

1984-1989
video installation | eight video monitors, video camera, and egg
Not currently on view in the museum
Egg Grows

In 1965 Paik, a pioneer of video art, declared the video camera the paintbrush of the future. Made nearly twenty years later, this installation explores the nature of real-time video and creates a dialogue between the real and the represented, drawing our attention to the subjective nature of the medium.

A surveillance camera focuses on an egg and feeds its live signal to a succession of eight monitors, each larger than the one before, creating the illusion that the egg is growing. Meditative in tone and minimalist in strategy, the work is a humorous expression of video's capacity for exaggeration and offers insight into the impact of electronic communication on experience.


36 in. x 108 in. x 216 in. (91.44 cm x 274.32 cm x 548.64 cm)
Acquired 1989
Collection SFMOMA
Accessions Committee Fund: gift of Elaine McKeon, Byron R. Meyer, Madeleine Haas Russell, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Swanson
© Estate of Nam June Paik
89.125
Keywords

video, monitors, eggs, cameras, live feed, stacks, rows


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