Detail

“The piano is a taboo, it must be destroyed.” Korean born Fluxus artist Nam June Paik shocked the German middle classes in 1963. In his first legendary one man show in Wuppertal, four pianos were turned into action objects, overloaded with civilizational junk. Pressing the keys and operating the switches resulted in a variety of visual and acoustic effects, including flashing lamps, ringing bells, the sound of a transistor radio, and moving parts. The audience was encouraged to take part alongside Paik, who scratched the piano and smeared it with paint. His manipulations and his invitation to reject the bourgeois music industry are not just about destruction. Like John Cage, who was a great artistic influence Paik, he strove to free music from its constrictive non-material ballast and to shock the audience out of its traditional passivity. Tones and noises were designed to materialize, becoming visible and tangible. “Klavier Integral” is the only remaining of the four pianos. Although it cannot be “played” today in its original sense, it still represents the artist’s revolutionary approach. Paik was a media artist who was able to take everything in in the moment. This is a permeable state and—seen negatively—a form of obsession, but in Paik’s case this is to be seen positively.