TV Buddha

[12] The numerous renditions of TV Buddha perfectly encapsulate the simplicity and reproducibility of this video art, as the combination of Western technology and east Asian culture is prevalent throughout this globalized society.

[15] His continued aesthetic studies at West Germany was the focal point of his career, as meeting American avant-garde composer John Cage and his inventive compositions and unorthodox ideas influenced Paik's entry into unique video and installation art.

Paik rewires the television so that a single white line bisects a dark screen, resulting in a non-static image as the light from the cathode ray tubes are constantly in motion.

[14] Like how every child who discovers the magic of dragging a magnet across a TV screen and thus alters a seemingly immovable force, Paik devotes his work towards breaking the control of imprisoning technology.

[13] This feature extends further, as Paik Nam June’s foundation states the appearance of the audience when leaning towards the screen to watch what the Buddha sees as the most prominent aspect of the installation art.

Especially as the founder of the term electronic superhighway, Paik's recognition of corrosive possibilities of technology on our sense of self, community, and faith inspired resistance to mass media as undirectional, hoping citizens of the digital age to take back some control.

Critics describe Paik as living with that question every moment, as experimentation was his art; his relentless, optimistic quest to expand the limits and definition of communication were his answer to suffering.

[14] Particularly by forcing Buddha to be trapped in a closed-circuit loop of his own reflection on a TV screen, Paik questions modern vanity and society’s self-absorption driven by mass culture and technology, encouraging everyone to find more individuality in this robotic reality.