To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the passing of Nam June Paik (1932–2006)—a pioneer of video art and a prophet of contemporary media culture—the Nam June Paik Art Center and Arts Council Korea are co-hosting an international academic symposium. This symposium serves as a scholarly platform to critically reflect on the research achievements accumulated over the years and to explore the contemporary potential for expansion within Paik’s thought and art. It aims to lay the groundwork for establishing and activating an international research network that connects researchers, institutions, and archives both domestically and abroad, while fostering collaboration and dialogue among the global research community. Furthermore, the symposium seeks to reinterpret Paik’s polyphonic legacy through a contemporary lens and build a solid foundation for the continuous expansion of his heritage.

Beginning with a keynote lecture, the symposium consists of two sessions that address the current state of research and contemporary agendas. Part 1, titled “Mapping the Field,” examines the methodological and institutional foundations of research. It reviews curatorial approaches and media-theoretical perspectives on Paik’s work, shares the status of research support and new research trends from major Nam June Paik archives, and specifically evaluates the academic achievements of the Nam June Paik Art Center to redefine the current research landscape and set coordinates for future international cooperation. Part 2, “Bridges and Futures,” develops interdisciplinary discussions intersecting with the discursive horizons of the 21st century, such as data science, machines and labor, the post-human, and transnational cultural practices. Through this, the symposium will confirm that Paik’s art is a living discourse that constantly reproduces itself in close resonance with contemporary technical, political, ecological, and cultural challenges, thereby re-establishing the pioneering value of his thought.

Speakers

Hannah B Higgins is a Professor in the School of Art and Art History at UIC and founder of the interdisciplinary BA in IDEAS. Her books include Fluxus Experience (University of California Press, 2002) and The Grid Book (MIT, 2009). With Douglas Kahn, she co-edited Mainframe Experimentalism: Early Computing and the Foundations of Digital Art (University of California Press, 2012). Her research tried to make sense of experience as a sensory/social and irreducible phenomenon. With the help of Simon Anderson from the School of the Art Institute, her Fluxus Seminar performed Grapefruit events in the galleries last fall. Higgins is co-executor of the estate of Fluxus artists Dick Higgins and Alison Knowles.

Sook-Kyung Lee is Director of The Whitworth and Professor of Curatorial Practices at the University of Manchester. Following her PhD in Art History and Theory from the University of Essex, she served as Senior Curator, International Art at Tate Modern. Her major curatorial roles include Commissioner & Curator of the Korean Pavilion (2015) and Curator of the Japan Pavilion (2024) at the Venice Biennale, and Artistic Director of the 14th Gwangju Biennale (2023). Her recent publication includes Santiago Yahuarcani: The Beginning of Knowledge (2025). Lee serves on Turner Prize 2026 juries and international advisory boards, focusing on exhibition and collection policy, community-led and audience-oriented museum practices, and global art histories.

Lev Manovich is a Presidential Professor at The Graduate Center, City University of New York and the founder and director of the Cultural Analytics Lab. He is recognized as one of the most influential thinkers in the fields of digital art, digital culture, media theory, and digital humanities. Manovich has been working with computer media as an artist since 1984, and received a Ph.D. in Visual and Cultural Studies from University of Rochester, combining theory and practice in his work. He played a pivotal role in establishing new research fields, including digital culture and new media studies, software studies, cultural analytics, and AI media theory. His books include The Language of New Media (2014) and Software Takes Command (2014).  In 2013, he appeared in a list of 25 People Shaping the Future of Design, and in 2014 he was included in 50 Most Interesting People Building the Future. His lab projects have been commissioned by Museum of Modern Art, New York Public Library, and Google, working on large-scale analysis of cultural datasets.

Hannah Pacious is the Nam June Paik Archive Collections Coordinator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where she leads the stewardship, access, and strategic development of one of the world’s most significant archives dedicated to Nam June Paik. With over fifteen years of experience working directly with the Paik Archive, Pacious has overseen the processing, cataloging, preservation, and research integration of complex multimedia holdings that include time-based media, electronic components, studio materials, and unfinished works. She manages acquisitions, facilitates scholarly research, and supports major exhibitions and interpretive initiatives that shape contemporary understanding of Paik’s artistic and technological legacy. Her work bridges archival practice and research inquiry, advancing best practices for the stewardship of artist archives and time-based media collections. She regularly presents on navigating the Paik Archive, contributes to museum publications, and collaborates with scholars, conservators, and curators to expand access to and scholarship on Paik’s work. At the intersection of archival leadership and media art history, Pacious brings a rare combination of long-term institutional knowledge and forward-looking collections strategy, offering insight into how archives can function as dynamic engines for research, exhibition, and institutional innovation.

Bookyung Son received her Ph.D. in Art History from Binghamton University, State University of New York, with a dissertation on the antagonistic relationship between Nam June Paik and Korean media art. She is currently a researcher at the Interdisciplinary Art Research Center (Interlab) at Hongik University. Her primary research fields encompass Nam June Paik, Korean experimental art, media art, cultural technology, and media archaeology. She has co-translated Media Criticism Keywords 21 (2015) and Postproduction (2016). Her recent publications include "Antagonism in Nam June Paik’s Return to Korea in the 1980s" (2024) and "Binghamton Letter: Nam June Paik at ETC" (2023). As an art historian, she focuses on analyzing the development and operational mechanisms of post-war art based on the transitions in technology and media environments.

Jung-Ah Woo is a Professor and the Head of the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences at POSTECH. She earned her Ph.D. in Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her primary research areas include contemporary Korean art, conceptual art, Fluxus, and monumentality. She is the author of The Conceptual Turn and the Origins of Contemporaneity in Korean Art (Seoul: Somyong Publishing, 2022) and co-author of Interpreting Modernism in Korean Art: Fluidity and Fragmentation (New York: Routledge, 2021). She served as a Getty Scholar at the Getty Research Institute (2018–2019) and has been an active critic, contributing an art column to the Chosun Ilbo since 2011 and reviewing contemporary Korean art exhibitions for Artforum International. She currently serves as a Board Member of the Samsung Foundation of Culture and as an Advisory Committee Member for the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Korea, and the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), contributing to the formation of international discourse on contemporary Korean art.

G Douglas Barrett is an Assistant Professor in the TV, Radio and Film Department at the Newhouse School, Syracuse University. He also serves as the Co-leader of Posthumanities: Arts and Sciences at the BioInspired Institute. He received his Ph.D. in Music from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and his research focuses on experimental music, sound art, media art, and posthuman theory. He is the author of Experimenting the Human: Art, Music, and the Contemporary Posthuman (University of Chicago Press, 2023) and After Sound: Toward a Critical Music (Bloomsbury, 2016). As a composer and media artist, his work crosses the boundaries of visual art and performance, and has been featured in international exhibitions and performances. He currently serves as a director for the international research platform “Politics of the Machines.”

Hyun-ae Lee is an art historian specializing in modern and contemporary Western art history and animal history. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Freiburg, Germany, and currently serves as an Academic Research Professor at the College of General Education, Chung-Ang University. She is the author of Walking with German Artists (2017) and has published in-depth research papers, including "The Neue Wache Controversy and Käthe Kollwitz: Use and Misuse of German Memory Politics before and after Reunification" (2024), as well as studies on the artistic world of Yves Klein and the art policies of Documenta in Kassel. Recently, she has been researching the interaction between modern art and evolutionary theory, and she actively communicates through university lectures and public talks focused on the relationship between humans and animals as depicted in art history.

Jun Okada is an Associate Professor in the Department of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College. She earned her Ph.D. in Cinema and Media Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her research centers on Asian American film and video, experimental and avant-garde media, and the history of film and television. She is the author of Making Asian American Film and Video: History, Institutions, and Movements (2015). Her work analyzes various media representations in film and TV, drawing on Asian American experiences and historical memory. More recently, she has expanded this research into critical cultural studies that integrate affect, environment, and neoliberalism.

Shan Lim is Professor in Department of Curatorial Studies and Art Management in College of Art, Dongduk Women’s University. He obtained a PhD from Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Arts, and his subjects were aesthetics, visual culture studies and media theory. He was a curator in the alternative art space LOOP, and a chief curator in Art Center Nabi. In his book Aesthetics of Convergence: Nam June Paik’s Early Works in Germany, 1956–1963 published in 2012, he investigated Paik’s early period in Germany. Among his other publications are Theoretical Examples of Art Discourses in the Age of Convergence, Assessment and Propositions on the New Media Art Scene, The Interrelationship between Video Art and Found-Footage Film, Mappings of Korean Contemporary Art (co-authored), and Why Image.

Wonjung Shin earned her Ph.D. in Art History and Image Science from Humboldt University of Berlin, based on a dissertation analyzing Nam June Paik's early works from the perspective of intermedial practice. She is currently an Invited Professor at Silla University, where she combines research and translation activities focused on media art and contemporary art theory. She has co-translated major theoretical works such as Nam June Paik: The Old, The New (2025) and Digital Performance (2022). She also contributes to the formation of institutional and critical discourse in the contemporary art scene through her work in exhibition and artist screening and advisory roles. Recently, she has been conducting research to reinterpret Nam June Paik's work within the socio-historical context of his time.