Global Groove (still), 1973, by Nam June Paik (1932–2006) and John Godfrey (born 1945).
© Nam June Paik Estate. © John Godfrey. Image courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York

Nam June Paik & John Godfrey: Global Groove, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Through November 27

Global Groove remixes pop culture and the avant-garde, envisioning a future media landscape saturated with a wide array of content. Sampling a vast audiovisual archive pieced together through lively editing and propelled by an upbeat soundtrack, Nam June Paik and John Godfrey generate a cross-cultural collage. Experimental performances by American artists Merce Cunningham, John Cage, and Charlotte Moorman, as well as by Korean artist Sun Ock Lee and Diné (Navajo) artist Cecilia Sandoval, are intercut and interspersed with Japanese commercials and US news broadcasts.

Through technological interventions into sound, video, and performance art, Paik envisioned a world in which art and culture travel across national borders as well as mediums and media. At a time when television was rapidly becoming a critical means of spreading messages and ideas, Global Groove was publicly broadcast on New York station WNET—where Godfrey was the head engineer—foreshadowing the potential of screen-based media to take over everyday life.

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