Nam June Paik Retrospective Marks 20 Years Since His Death at Tokyo's Watari-um

Key facts

• "Nam June Paik: The 20th anniversary of his passing" runs at the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art (Watari-um) in Tokyo from July 19 to November 23, 2026.
• The three-floor retrospective includes mixed-media installations, works on paper, and personal documents from the museum's collection.
• Nam June Paik, born in South Korea and known as the "father of video art," died in 2006.
• In a 1974 essay Paik predicted television would split into differentiated video cultures such as Picture-Phone and tele-facsimile, forming "a new nuclear energy in information and society-building."
• TV Egg (1982) is displayed on a pile of mulch surrounded by ferns on the first level.
• Time in Triangular and Forest of Cage / Revelation of the Forest, both 1993, were created for Paik's solo show at Watari-um that year.
• Forest of Cage, a descendant of TV Garden (1974–77), features more than 20 bulky TVs and pays tribute to American composer John Cage (1912–1992).
• Candle TV (1968), a hollowed-out Emerson television holding a burning candle, is shown on the top floor.
• The review is by Annette Meier, an assistant editor at ArtAsiaPacific.