Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV

Directed by Amanda Kim

“A gargantuan tower of televisions… a majestic beast of an artwork — captivating, ingenious, exhilarating, and kind of hilarious”: Nam June Paik’s most celebrated sculptural piece, The More, the Better as described by Andrew Russeth (Artforum’s Best of 2022). The Korean-born, German-educated, life-long New Yorker, Nam June Paik (1932-2006) coined the phrase “the electronic superhighway” long before the Internet was born. A consummate shape-shifter — classical composer, subversive trickster, pioneer of experimental “interventions” (he called “action music”) and, according to friends, speaker of nine languages (all badly). Paik’s influences ranged from Hegel to Schoenberg, from traditional Korean dance to Buddhism, space travel, and beyond. Debut filmmaker Amanda Kim’s captivating, kinetic documentary — narrated by actor Steven Yeun (MINARI, BURNING) — uses archival footage and clips from the artist’s work to recount his collaborations and fascinations with Joseph Beuys, Charlotte Moorman (the topless cellist), David Bowie, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Allen Ginsberg, Merce Cunningham, and his great mentor and friend, John Cage.

With support from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Fund