Video’s New Reality: Artists Explore Digital Immersion
Exploring time and space through an evolving media landscape
In an era of “video immersion,” the constant glow of screens transforms cities into vast interfaces. This pervasive light, more than just visual stimulus, represents a deluge of data, fundamentally altering human perception and memory.
The “Videory” Era Dawns
This shift echoes the prescient vision of **Nam June Paik**, who predicted a future where human events would be recorded through video rather than traditional language. Today, history is increasingly captured and consumed in visual and video formats, placing us in a temporal and spatial reality saturated with overlapping digital narratives.
RT @NJArtCenter: The exhibition “Multilayered Video Environments” features works by @YiyunKang, @GijeongGoo, @KwonHyewon, @inhwayeom and @kwonjincho. https://t.co/e2F6CgJ36t
— Nam June Paik Art Center (May 19, 2022)
Inspired by **Nam June Paik**’s foundational work on video’s temporal and spatial dimensions, this exhibition showcases contemporary artists who navigate and reframe these immersive digital environments. Their art confronts themes of planetary sustainability through historical extinction, imagines coexistence amid climate crises, and probes cognitive shifts stemming from immersive technologies.
These artists experiment with the boundaries between the real and virtual, blending natural landscapes with technological elements. Their creations, rooted in simultaneous and non-causal global events, invite viewers to reconsider their present moment and acknowledge profound interconnectedness.
Paik’s Vision of “Videory”
“The word ‘history’ came into being, because our events were told and written down thereafter. Now history is being recorded in images or video. Therefore from now on there is no more ‘History’, but only ‘Imagery’ or ‘Videory’.”
—Nam June Paik, Binghamton Letter (1972)
The exhibition is a key component of the YONGIN SPECIAL CITY 2025 Smart Tourism City Project. It will be accessible from October 20 to December 31 at the outdoor Media Wall of the Nam June Paik Art Center and will extend to the outdoor area of Yongin Poeun Art Hall.
Engaging Public Programs
Opening day festivities on Thursday, August 7, 2025, from 3–4pm in Gallery 2 will feature musical performances. Won Suk Lee, a contemporary musician, will present “Acting Alchemical Dear,” and composer Sunwoo Shawn Kim will perform “2025. 8. 7.”
Artist workshops offer deep dives into creative processes. From August 15–16, Gijeong Goo will lead a “Visualizing Transparency Workshop” in Fluxroom. The following weekend, August 23–24, Inhwa Yeom and Won Suk Lee will host an “AI-Acoustic Workshop.” Concluding the series, August 29–30, Hyewon Kwon will conduct a “3D Stereoscopy Workshop,” also in Fluxroom.
A captivating audiovisual performance is scheduled for Saturday, September 13, 2025, at 5pm in the Outdoor Backyard. Media artist YI SEUNGGYU and electronic musician KIRARA will present their collaborative work. (Note: The performance is subject to rescheduling or alterations due to weather conditions.)
Recent data indicates that global digital content creation is projected to reach 465 exabytes per day by 2025, underscoring the sheer scale of the visual information environment artists are now engaging with (DOMO Data Report, 2025).
