This special conversation explores the art and legacy of Nam June Paik, a pioneering figure who played a pivotal role in establishing video as a new artistic medium from the 1960s onward, together with art historian and curator John G. Hanhardt, one of the closest observers of Paik’s activities in the United States. Hanhardt has played a significant role in introducing Paik’s artistic vision to international audiences through the organization of major exhibitions in the United States, including the landmark retrospective Nam June Paik at the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Worlds of Nam June Paik at the Guggenheim Museum during the artist’s lifetime, as well as the posthumous exhibition Nam June Paik: Global Visionary at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The conversation will be moderated by Sook-Kyung Lee, Director of the Whitworth Art Gallery and curator of The Future Is Now, the first international touring exhibition devoted to Nam June Paik. Together with Lee, who organized the exhibition as it traveled from Tate Modern to major museums around the world, Hanhardt will examine the contemporary significance and enduring legacy of Paik’s art.

About the Curators

John G. Hanhardt

John G. Hanhardt is a leading American curator of media art and a pioneering scholar of Nam June Paik. He has played a pivotal role in establishing video, film, and media art within museum institutions and contemporary art discourse since the late twentieth century, while making significant contributions to their international recognition and dissemination. Hanhardt began his career in the Department of Film and Video at the Museum of Modern Art. He then established the first Film and Media Arts collection at the Walker Art Center. From 1974 to 1996, he served as Curator and Head of the Film and Video Department at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He subsequently held the position of Senior Curator of Film and Media Arts at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum from 1996 to 2006. Since 2006, Hanhardt has served as Senior Consulting Curator for Film and Media Arts at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where he initiated and led the oral history project for the Nam June Paik Archive. In 2019, he also co-edited and published “We Are in Open Circuits”: Writings by Nam June Paik, a major anthology of Paik’s essays, project proposals, and correspondence spanning his entire career.

Sook-Kyung Lee

Sook-Kyung Lee is Director of the Whitworth Art Gallery and Professor of Curatorial Practices at the University of Manchester. She has worked internationally as a curator, writer, and educator, contributing to the development of contemporary art discourse. Lee was Artistic Director of the 14th Gwangju Biennale, the Commissioner of the Korean Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, and the Curator of the Japanese Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale. She was previously Senior Curator of International Art at Tate Modern, leading exhibitions, acquisitions and research, and made significant contributions to the areas of global art history, indigenous art, and the transnational. At Tate Modern, Lee organized the landmark retrospective Nam June Paik with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which toured internationally to major museums including the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the National Gallery Singapore. The exhibition offered a renewed perspective on the contemporary relevance and enduring legacy of Paik’s artistic practice.