The final screening in the Rendez-vous Celeste series, organized to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Good Morning Mr. Orwell, is Merce by Merce by Paik. Nam June Paik captures movements of Merce Cunningham (1919~2009), a dancer and choreographer who attempted to engage the medium of video in his dance performance. Cunningham’s dance moves transcend the boundaries between real space and virtual space. Paik creates an effect that Merce dances by Merce, placing pre-recorded images of Merce Cunningham across a single screen with the use of chroma key and various layer techniques. Cunningham’s movement is repetitively seen in the midst of images beyond time and space and Cunningham’s both of the past and of the present appear repeatedly with the rewind technique in the later part of the video. Cunningham’s movement floating freely unfolds as if to transcend time and space.

Merce Cunningham was a leading figure in 20th-century modern dance, actively blending with other genres such as music and art design to expand the scope of pure expressiveness of body language. Cunningham was not concerned with the inner world or psychological portrayal of human beings, which are important in modern dance, but rather with the exploration of movement, the development of movement possibilities, and the formal and formal beauty of dance. In his collaborations with other artists, including composers, artists, and designers, Cunningham went beyond conventional and stereotypical compositions and transformed the meaning and aesthetic value of dance, marking a turning point for the entire dance world.

excerpt from Nam June Paik Art Center More than 30 minutes exhibition catalog