Nam June Paik: A Living Legacy of Time and Technology
Expert Talk Program
Friday, November 7, 2025 | 5:30-7:00 PM
Korean Cultural Center New York
(122 E 32nd St, New York, NY 10016)
We are delighted to present the Expert Talk “Nam June Paik: A Living Legacy of Time and Technology,” exploring how Nam June Paik’s visionary ideas continue to shape and inspire the age of digital media.
In conjunction with the exhibition “Nam June Paik: The Communicator,” this special program brings together leading artists, curators, scholars, and technicians whose work reflects the enduring influence of Paik’s innovative approach to technology, art, and communication.
Panelists
Paul Garrin
He is an artist and technologist who worked closely with Nam June Paik for many years, developing the software for Paik’s major works. Born in Philadelphia in 1957, Garrin studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and graduated from Cooper Union in 1982. From 1982 to 1997, he collaborated with Paik on over 400 works, establishing himself as a pioneer in interactive and media-based art. His large-scale installations are held in the collection of ZKM Karlsruhe. Beyond the art world, Garrin founded NAME.SPACE, an early project that expanded the Internet’s domain system, and WiFi-NY, a community broadband network. He currently leads the ECOLIBRIUM program at the Loisaida Center in New York, merging art, science, and sustainability to address urban climate challenges.
Julia E. Robinson
She is an Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art in the Department of Art History at New York University, specializing in Fluxus and avant-garde movements of the 1960s. Her research explores postwar art’s cross-disciplinary experimentation, performative practices, and global reach—particularly how artists redefined the relationship between viewer, object, and language during this transformative decade. Robinson has curated major international exhibitions at Museum Ludwig (Cologne), Museu d’Art Contemporani (Barcelona), and Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid), and her writings have appeared in Artforum, Grey Room, October, and publications from the Museum of Modern Art and Fondazione Prada. She is the editor of several landmark volumes, including John Cage: October Files (MIT Press) and New Realisms: 1957–62, and her forthcoming book on George Brecht reexamines Fluxus and the conceptual roots of the avant-garde in postwar art history.
Photo by George Chinsee
Alex Greenberger
He is the Senior Editor at ARTnews and the author of “Nam June Paik’s Pioneering Vision: How the Artist Predicted an Age of Digital Technology.” He joined ARTnews in 2015 as an editorial assistant and has since covered a wide range of topics—from the 2018–2019 protests against a former Whitney Museum vice chair to the 2022 controversy surrounding charges of anti-Semitism and harassment at Documenta 15. In his criticism, Greenberger has written on subjects such as body horror, the history of video art, the legacy of Pablo Picasso, and the work of artists including Wangechi Mutu, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Marlene Dumas. His writing has also appeared in Artspace, The Village Voice, and numerous gallery catalogs. He holds a B.A. in Art History and Cinema Studies from New York University.
Raphaele Shirley
She is a multimedia artist and installation specialist who played a key role in installing Nam June Paik’s major works for the exhibition “Nam June Paik: The Communicator.” She worked as Paik’s studio assistant from 1996 to 2002, contributing to the creation and international tour of The Worlds of Nam June Paik for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, as well as to iconic installations such as TV Garden, Megatron/Matrix, and TV Fish. Since 2005, she has collaborated with Chi-Tien Lui of CTL Electronics on the restoration and preservation of over 200 of Paik’s artworks for major museums including MoMA, the Whitney, the Guggenheim, and SFMOMA. Also an accomplished artist, Shirley has exhibited her own work internationally and continues to expand on Paik’s legacy through her explorations of light, media, and collective art practice.
Q&A Session
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Time-Based Media (TBM) Gatherings
This volunteer-led community of conservators, curators, fellows, and students is dedicated to advancing the care, presentation, and understanding of time-based media art. Meeting quarterly at The Met, it serves as a platform to exchange knowledge, address conservation challenges, and foster cross-institutional dialogue around artworks that incorporate video, sound, performance, and digital media. Following the panel discussion, members will join the program for an open Q&A session, sharing their professional insights into the preservation and interpretation of media-based works within contemporary museum practice.