How Many Artists Does It Take to Program a VCR?


Megatron /Matrix On this day in 1975, Sony introduced the videocassette recorder, the Betamax, for sale to the public.

This advancement in the audiovisual technology was an important one for artist Nam June Paik, whose artworks rely on multimedia electronic devices. His monolithic Megatron/Matrix employs several laser disk players to operate the 215 video monitors that comprise the sculpture.

Though Paik uses cutting edge technology in his work, he maintains that he is really a novice when it comes to using these machines in daily life.

"Since I make machine-based art, everybody thinks I am a machine freak. I don't drive a car. I'm a very clumsy guy, and although I like music, I can barely play an LP or a CD player. But since I have a very clumsy hand and a very anti-machine mentality, I struggle to create something that is related to the machine. I ended up creating something unforeseen; maybe that is the secret of my 'success.'"

Source: National Museum of American Art (Washington, D.C. and Boston, New York, Toronto, and London: National Museum of American Art with Bulfinch Press, Little Brown and Company, 1995).

Pictured: Nam June Paik, born 1932, Megatron /Matrix, 1995, multimedia installation, about 11 x 33 x 4 ft., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Mr. and Mrs. Barney A. Ebsworth, Nelson C. White, and the Lusita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment.