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On November 18, 2022, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) held an international symposium called My Paik Nam June at the MMCA Gwacheon, where Paik Nam June’s work The More, The Better is installed.
This book is a research publication that revisits Paik’s artistic achievements by expanding on the presentations at the symposium and adding new manuscripts. As in the symposium, the book is organized into three parts to provide a multifaceted understanding of the artist. Chronologically, it covers major topics of the research on Paik Nam June in the context of the past, present, and future.

Chapter 1, “Memories and Legacy,” approaches Paik’s artistic practice by reflecting on his life and the legacy he left behind. Beginning with Paik’s early career and detailing his activities in the United States from the mid-1960s onward, Barbara London, a former curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, provides a vivid portrait of the New York art scene at a time when media art was emerging as a result of the increasing interaction between art and technology.
Saisha Grayson, Curator of Time-Based Media at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), highlights the meaning of collaborating with Paik through the Nam June Paik Archive held by SAAM.
Lim Shan, a professor at Dongduk Women’s University’s Department of Curatorial Studies and Art Management, analyzes the meaning of Paik Nam June’s writings from a contemporary perspective and explores the aesthetic meaning and significance of Paik Nam June’s writings that reveal his experimental nature and creativity.
Architect Kim Won, principal architect at the architectural research office Kwangjang, remembers his collaboration with Paik in the 1980s when he was designing the frame structure for The More, The Better.

Chapter 2, “Media Art and Conservation,” explores the technological achievements that made the reactivation of The More, The Better possible and, in a more general sense, the meaning of conserving artworks. Hanna B. Holling, an honorary associate professor at University College London, discusses the conservation of Paik Nam June’s works in a multifaceted context of art history, materials, and technology.
Media artist and the president of the Korean Society of Basic Design & Art Yi Won Kon talks about the conservation goal of Paik Nam June’s video installations in the context of analog technology.
Dorcas Muller is the head of the Laboratory for Antiquated Video Systems at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. Her work brings the concept of conservation from ancient Indian literature into the present.
One of the MMCA's conservators, Kwon Incheol, shares the conservation and restoration process of The More, The Better, which showed potential problems with conservation due to aging equipment from the time it was installed.

Chapter 3, “Spread of Discourse,” discusses the influence and potential that Paik Nam June’s artistic practice still has today. Focusing on Paik’s satellite works and his role as a cultural curator in Korea, Rhee Jieun, a professor at Myongji University’s Department of Art History, examines his vision of globalization and traces how the connectivity he so passionately sought manifested itself in his works and practice.
Kim Hee-young, a professor at Kookmin University’s Department of Fine Art, connects the work of Paik Nam June, who rejected traditional artistic conventions and instead sought to fuse sound and image through electronic experimentation, to the artistic vision of Dada artist Raoul Hausmann from a media archaeology perspective.
Gregory Zinman, an associate professor at the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology, suggests directions and pathways for contemporary art that can be connected to the principles of Paik’s art.

3 Foreword
5 INTRODUCTION TO MY PAIK NAM JUNE: MEMORIES, CONSERVATION, AND THE SPREAD OF DISCOURSE

Ⅰ. MEMORIES AND LEGACY
15 Paik Nam June: Visionary Artist and Diplomat / Barbara London
27 Collaboration with/in Paik’s Archive at the Smithsonian American Art Museum / Saisha Grayson
45 The Power and Significance of Paik Nam June’s Writing / Lim Shan
65 16 Ad: Stirring Memories of The More, The Better / Kim Won

Ⅱ. MEDIA ART AND CONSERVATION
83 Can We Talk Post-preservation? A Letter to Paik Nam June / Hanna B. Holling
97 Paik Nam June and TV Technology / Yi Won Kon
119 Asanas for Media Art Conservation / Dorcas Muller
137 Conservation and Restoration of The More, The Better: Maintaining Past Artwork with Present Technology while Preparing for the Future / Kwon Incheol

Ⅲ. SPREAD OF DISCOURSE
159 Unexpected Encounter: Global Groove and Beyond / Rhee Jieun
183 Paik Nam June’s Electronic Television: Realizing Dada’s Vision of Machine Art / Kim Hee-Young
203 Openings and Loopholes: Paik’s Pathways for Contemporary Art / Gregory Zinman

While this book is ostensibly based on the results of an international symposium held to commemorate the ninetieth anniversary of Paik Nam June’s birth, it also seeks to go beyond simply remembering him and summarizing his achievements, and to bring his artistic experimentation into the present. In fact, as the conservation and restoration process of The More, The Better has shown, the task of preserving his works, which are now part of the collections at many institutions around the world, in a way that is relevant to today’s viewers is a significant challenge for conservators and institutions. As such, the diverse opinions on media art conservation raised in this book can serve as a meaningful reference for a variety of issues that may be encountered in the future. In addition, this research publication also aims to draw attention to the potential of Paik’s legacy for future generations.
In conclusion, the spirit of experimentation that Paik pursued is still relevant today, and his imagination continues to be further expanded on by artists of later generations. His artistic output throughout his life was vast, and his experiments were always in a category all their own. To be sure, it still takes a great deal of time and effort to get to know the creative artist known as Paik Nam June, whose artistic achievements were clearly ahead of their time. In any event, we know that our Paik Nam June is still smiling brightly in the photo of him looking up at his work that was taken at the opening ceremony of The More, The Better all those years ago.
Han Jungin (Curator, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea)
INTRODUCTION TO MY PAIK NAM JUNE: MEMORIES, CONSERVATION, AND THE SPREAD OF DISCOURSE, 9p.

In the mid-1970s, whenever Paik was in town, he would stop by my minuscule MoMA office at the end of a long hallway. Surrounded by an overflowing bookshelf and an overstuffed filing cabinet, we would sit and chat about his new projects and the state of video and the world. He usually arrived with an armful of treasures: his out-of-print early catalogs, old, yellowed newspaper clippings with reviews that he would sign, posters, and other rare printed matter. In his inimitable sagacity, he knew that my collection of ephemera documenting video’s history would one day become an important research archive at MoMA. He knew I would save and organize everything, which I did. Eventually, I transferred it all to the MoMA Library, where it became important resource material.
Barbara London
Paik Nam June: Visionary Artist and Diplomat, 24p.