Electronic+Superhighway

Date: 1995
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/2002/2002.23_1a.jpg?itok=cNzudgct width="419" height="267" link="@https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/electronic-superhighway-continental-us-alaska-hawaii-71478"]] || Title: **Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii**

Artist: **Nam June Paik** Born: Seoul, Korea 1932 Died: Miami Beach, Florida 2006

Medium: 49-channel closed circuit video installation, neon, steel and electronic components Dimensions: approx.15 x 40 x 4 ft. Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of the artist

Accession: 2002.23 || //Electronic Superhighway// is Nam June Paik’s tribute to the United States, his adopted homeland. Paik, born in Korea in 1932, moved to New York in 1964 and lived in America until his death in 2006.
 * Exhibition Label: **

Though the outlines of the fifty states are familiar, //Electronic Superhighway// challenges the viewer to look with new eyes at the cultural map of the United States. Each state is represented by video footage reflecting the artist’s personal, and often unexpected, associations with the place. He celebrates some states for their connections to his artistic friends and collaborators--composer John Cage in Massachusetts, performance artist Charlotte Moorman in Arkansas, and choreographer Merce Cunningham in Washington. Some states he knows best through classic movies---The Wizard of Oz for Kansas, Showboat for Mississippi, and South Pacific for Hawaii. Sometimes he chose video clips or flickering slideshows evoking familiar associations, such as the Kentucky Derby, Arizona highways, and presidential candidates for Iowa. Topical events such as the fires of the 1993 Waco siege, or Atlanta’s 1996 summer Olympics create a portrait of a moment in time. Old black-and-white TV footage and audio of Martin Luther King speeches recall Civil Rights struggles in Alabama. California has the fastest-paced imagery, racing through the Golden Gate Bridge, 0s and 1s of the digital revolution, and a fitness class led by O. J. Simpson. A mini-cam captures images of //Superhighway//’s viewers and transmits their images onto a tiny screen representing Washington, D.C., making visitors a part of the story.

Nam June Paik is hailed as the “father of video art” and credited with the first use of the term “information superhighway” in the 1970s. He recognized the potential for media collaboration among people in all parts of the world, and he knew that media would completely transform our lives. Electronic Superhighway—constructed of 336 televisions, 50 DVD players, 3,750 feet of cable, and 575 feet of multicolor neon tubing—is a testament to the ways media defined one man’s understanding of a diverse nation.


 * Suggested Questions: **
 * How is this similar/different from Bertoia’s sculpture?
 * Why do you think Paik choose certain images for certain states, such as Wizard of Oz for Kansas?
 * Would you choose other images for some of the states?


 * Key Concepts: **
 * Media
 * Culture

From John Hanhardt, Consulting Senior Curator for Film and Media Arts, and Adam Rice, Exhibitions Specialist:
 * Additional Information: **
 * When the artwork was premiered at the Holly Solomon Gallery in New York City, the camera showing live footage of visitors showed in New York State and there was a different video playing in DC.
 * The original DC video has morphing presidents like Iowa and also animated (a la Monty Python) picketing on the White House lawn. We have this DVD should “US Map” ever travel.
 * It took three weeks to install in Lincoln Gallery once the power was in place. It took a much longer time before that to gather all the components and “preinstall” the artwork at our warehouse.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">It took about 10 months to a year to put the installation together (including gathering video footage from the various states) for its original presentation at the Holly Solomon Gallery. The restoration took about a year and a half. And the on site installation at SAAM about 5 weeks.

From Daniel Finn, Conservator of Time Based Media:
 * Videos were originally played from 50 Laser Disc players then to 50 DVD players then to 50 media players.
 * Now they are played from 50 USB flash drives, each one containing the relevant video as well as instructions to the player so that they loop.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">From Scott Rosenfeld, Lighting Designer, and Adam Rice, Exhibitions Specialist:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Electricity Usage: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Adam and I don’t know exactly how much it costs to run Superhighway per day, but we were able to estimate the cost using the following logic.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">//Electronic Superhighway// is serviced by a 200 amp power. We know most of the breakers are running near capacity which is 80% of the 200 amp total. 80% of 200amps = 160amps.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Our electric bill is calculated in kilowatt -hours so we need to convert the 160 amps to watts. The formula to convert amps to watts is: watts = volts x amps. In the United States the power we use is 120 volts. So: 120 volts x 160 amps used in //Superhighway// = 19,200 watts.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">To convert watts to kilowatts, divide by 1000. 19,200 watts / 1000 = 19.2 killowatts. So, if we take a meter and measure the amount of power //Electronic Superhighway// uses in watts the answer would be 19.2 killo-watts.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">When the power company charge us for electricity they not only need to know how much power we use, but how many hours something is turned on. The unit the power company uses to calculate our bill is stated in kilowatt -- hours.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">//Electronic Superhighway// runs 9 hours a day. 9 hours x 19.2 killowatts = 172.9 killowatt hours

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The cost of electricity changes all the time depending on things like the price of oil, the time of year, and the time of day. I would estimate that our average cost for electricity is 10 cents a kilowatt hour. 10 cents = 10/100 of a dollar

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">10/100 of a dollar x 172.9 killo-watt hours = $17.29 dollars a day.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Nam June Paik, Notes <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Paik, Nam June <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Signs and Symbols Guide <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Paik - A Retrospective <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Nam June Paik NY Times Article <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">What is in each state? (a working list) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Paik - Old and New
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Related Resources: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">Artist Biography <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">Superhighway Scholars: an educational website about the artwork <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">Nam June Paik Obituary <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">SAAM Collections Page
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">Links: **