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More than 30 minutes is an exhibition that sheds new light on Nam June Paik’s video art in the context of the Counterculture that swept America and Europe in the 1960s. Nam June Paik’s work was also influenced by such a cultural background of American society in the ’60s, a decade in which reflections on the Western civilization gradually grew into a movement against the established values. Behind Nam June Paik’s progressive video art exists a new vision of communication sought in the midst of the Countercultural upheaval. It was also Paik’s urgent solution for contemporary people who just entered the age of commodification and automation. 

The title ‘More than 30 minutes’ came from the text “Afterlude to the Exposition of Experimental Television”(1963) written by Paik, in which he encouraged viewers to watch his television more than 30 minutes. The exhibition interpreted the meaning of 30 minutes as a requisite for a sympathy with others as well as a journey of communication. According to Paik, video art is not only a passage of ‘harmonious chaos’ to escape from now and here, but also a starting point of imagination to move into there and beyond. We hope that his video art will melt our heart overwhelmed by the flood of information into a strong bond of sympathy.

Nam June Pailk, Flower Child, video sculpture, 1998

Nam June Pailk, Living with the Living Theatre, single channel video, 1989

Nam June Pailk, Autobiography inside Womb, drawing on news paper, 1981

Nam June Pailk, Tiger Lives, single channel video, 1999