Lisa Bosbach

The little-known and scarcely researched early musical works of Nam June Paik (1932-2006), as well as his compositions created in the Rhineland, form a collection that is significant not only biographically but also art-historically, and is being systematically explored here for the first time. The focus is on the period from 1945 to 1963: The works from these nearly 20 years are characterized by a progressive blurring of disciplinary boundaries. They begin with the young Paik's first attempts at composition in conventional notation, progress through the introduction of electroacoustic music and actionist elements, and culminate in the musical environment 'EXPosition of Music. ELectronic Television' (1963), which should become particularly relevant for art history due to its conscious overcoming of disciplinary limits. The compositions presented differ not only in their recognized quality but also emerged in completely different geographical, cultural-political, artistic, and intellectual contexts. This challenges a transdisciplinary perspective. Of particular importance is that Paik aimed to debut as a composer in 1958 and 1959 during the Darmstadt Summer Courses. However, with his first public concert at the Düsseldorf 'Galerie 22' (1959), he departed from the conventional framework of a music performance. Following the break with institutional modes of representation and thus a maintained distance from New Music, he primarily positioned himself in an intermedial context.