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Nam June Paik
Egg Grows, 1984-1989

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.

Artwork Info

Artwork title
Egg Grows
Artist name
Nam June Paik
Date created
1984-1989
Classification
video installation
Medium
eight video monitors, video camera, and egg
Dimensions
36 in. × 108 in. × 216 in. (91.44 cm × 274.32 cm × 548.64 cm)
Date acquired
1989
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Accessions Committee Fund: gift of Elaine McKeon, Byron R. Meyer, Madeleine Haas Russell, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Swanson
Copyright
© Estate of Nam June Paik
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/89.125
Artwork status
Not on view at this time.

Other Works by Nam June Paik

See other works by Nam June Paik

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