Technology as a Language of Love: Paik Nam‑June and Kim Ah‑reum’s Vision of a Connected Future
Creatrip Team
4 months ago
A New York exhibition “Paik Nam‑June: Communicator” (Sept 26–Nov 22) pairs the pioneering video artist Paik Nam‑June (1932–2006) with contemporary Korean artist Kim Ah‑reum (b.1987) to explore how technology can convey universal human values, especially love. The show revisits Paik’s revolutionary idea of the “Electronic Superhighway” (electronic superhighway) and his belief that media and electronics can connect and liberate people rather than isolate them. Kim’s new works, inspired by Paik’s 1993 Venice Biennale piece “The Rebirth of Genghis Khan,” imagine a hopeful future where technology mediates love: figures and the artist’s companion animals ride cars across water into abstract landscapes of love. Kim frequently uses water imagery (water) and watercolor techniques to suggest flowing, timeless inner life; his practice treats making art as a ritual that reveals the persistence of love despite technological change. Together, the two artists suggest that progress and devices are meaningful only when guided by humane intent, and they offer an optimistic path—an interconnected “road” of electronic highways and waterways—toward a future shaped by compassion rather than fear.
