Manfred Montwé took a photograph of Nam June Paik in his first solo show, Exposition of Music ― Electronic Television held at Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal, in March 1963. One of the phrases written in the exhibition’s poster was “instruments for Zen exercise,” which was related to the installation in the boiler room of the basement. Viewers could move various tinware hanging from the ceiling, and make sound with them. One could also sit under an empty suitcase or a transistor radio hanging from the ceiling and feel the texture and movement of the objects. An installation in the garden also led viewers to listen to the rattling of bells, keys, wooden dolls, metal bolts, and sandals on a string, whispering to one another through the wind. Paik called this work Zen for Wind, and also described the basement room as “similar to a torture chamber having an opposite function, and sitting on a chair there and placing my bag above, my head becomes cooled off” implying that this might be a kind of Zen practice.
