This photograph shows Nam June Paik playing the piano at Mixed Media Opera held in Town Hall, New York on June 10th, 1968. Paik and Charlotte Moorman organized this concert as a fundraiser to pay for Moorman’s legal fees in the wake of her trial caused by Opera Sextronique in 1967 where she turned topless during the performance. The repertoire of Mixed Media Opera included Aria No. 3 and Aria No. 4 from Opera Sextronique, which had not made it in the original performance, and other popular Paik-Moorman works such as Variations on a Theme by Robert Breer and Variations on a Theme by Saint-Saëns. Paik’s Simple was also performed here. In the photograph, Paik stripped to the waist, is banging on the keys with his head. The program of this event contained a long text comprised of quotes from a rebuttal to Moorman’s guilt and references for the injustice of the trial. Other artists such as Allan Kaprow, James Tenney, Emmett Williams, and Jonas Mekas made a guest appearance.
