Series 3: Fluxus and the' 85 New Wave

This lecture explores the work of Nam June Paik, a key Fluxus artist whose works made the first artistic prediction of today’s “Society of the Spectacle.” Analyzing the artist’s view on electronic images by comparing it with Guy Debord’s concept of the society of spectacle and Baudrillard’s notion of simulacra, it suggests that, while we cannot return to Debord’s de-imaged reality as simulacra now pervade our world, the situation is not as depressing as Baudrillard’s hegemony depicts.

The playful, lighthearted, and humorous spirit unique to Fluxus may inspire a new wave of resistance, a lesson we can learn from the 1960s, when the Fluxus artists manifested creative nonconformity of the era.