This photograph shows experimental televisions displayed in Nam June Paik’s first solo show, Exposition of Music — Electronic Television held at Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal, in March 1963. Paik showed 13 experimental televisions, which can be divided into three categories. The first group of televisions had their inner circuit manipulated to interfere with normal workings of signals; a broadcast program could be shown as negative images, or sinusoidal oscillations, horizontal, and vertical stripes could disturb the screen. The second group of televisions was connected to external devices by which the audience was led to participate, which made certain images. Stepping on a pedal switch or making sound in front of a microphone created dots of light like sparks on the television screen. Also, a television connected to a tape recorder and a radio displayed different images according to the wavelength of the music and the volume of the radio. The last group consisted of broken televisions that displayed a single horizontal line across the screen, which Paik brought and laid on its side so that the line appeared to be a vertical one. Another broken television was laid face-down, emphasizing its brand name ‘Rembrandt Automatic.’ Montwé recalled that images on the television monitors ran by rapidly, kept changing constantly, or remained unstable, making it technically challenging to capture them. The photograph shows Nam June Paik manipulating images on one of experimental televisions.
