July 20, 1932:
Nam June Paik is born in Seoul, Chosen-Sotoku (Korea), Japan, the youngest of five children born to a textile manufacturer.
November 23, 1956:
Nam June Paik (24) matriculates at the University of Munich in the Department of Philosophy.
September 3, 1958:
Connected to his lectures at Darmstadt, John Cage (45) and David Tudor perform the European premieres of several works by Cage, Morton Feldman (32), Earle Brown (31), and the world premiere of Duo for Pianists II by Christian Wolff (24). The audience is in an uproar, mostly consisting of laughter. During these days in Darmstadt, Cage first meets Nam June Paik (26).
November 13, 1959:
Hommage à John Cage for piano and tape by Nam June Paik (27) is performed for the first time, in Galerie 22, Düsseldorf. An introductory lecture is given by Gottfried Michael Koenig (33).
May 23, 1960:
Nam June Paik (27) enrolls at the University of Cologne. He will attend lectures until the end of the 1962-63 winter semester.
June 10, 1960:
Étude for Pianoforte by Nam June Paik (27) is performed for the first time, in Atelier Mary Bauermeister, Cologne.
October 6, 1960:
Cartridge Music for amplified sounds by John Cage (48) is performed before a live audience for the first time, at Mary Bauermeister’s Studio in Cologne. Among the performers are Cornelius Cardew (24), Christian Wolff (26), Nam June Paik (28), and David Tudor. Simultaneously, the composer performs his Solo for Voice 2. During the premiere of Nam June Paik’s Etude for Piano, Paik suddenly rises from the piano and enters the audience, attacking Cage and Tudor, shredding Cage’s clothes with scissors, then leaving the hall. See 15 September 1960.
September 27, 1961:
Two works by Nam June Paik (29) are performed for the first time, in Stockholm: Do it yourself--Answers to LaMonte Young and Simple.
October 26, 1961:
Karlheinz Stockhausen’s (33) theatre piece Originale no.12 2/3, using his electronic music Kontakte, is performed for the first time, in the Theater am Dom, Cologne. Among the participants is Nam June Paik (29) who premieres his Zen Head and Étude Platonique no.3.
March 11, 1963:
The first solo exhibition by Nam June Paik (30) opens in the Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal. It is the first exhibition in Germany to use televisions as art objects.
June 22, 1963:
Piano for All Senses by Nam June Paik (30) is performed for the first time, at Amstel 47, Amsterdam.
May 8, 1964:
Zen for Film by Nam June Paik (31) is shown for the first time, in Canal Street, New York.
June 12, 1964:
Nam June Paik (31) meets Charlotte Moorman for the first time, in a luncheonette in midtown Manhattan.
August 30, 1964:
Robot Opera by Nam June Paik (32) is performed for the first time, in New York.
October 16, 1964:
Pop Sonata by Nam June Paik (32) is performed for the first time, at the Philadelphia College of Art. It calls on cellist Charlotte Moorman to remove various articles of clothing interspersed with the Suite no.3 for cello of Johann Sebastian Bach (†214).
January 8, 1965:
Zen Box & Zen Can by Nam June Paik (32) is performed for the first time, at the New School for Social Research, New York.
February 26, 1965:
Two new works for cello by Nam June Paik (32) are performed for the first time, at the Philadelphia College of Art. In Human Cello, Paik, stripped to the waist, kneels between the thighs of cellist Charlotte Moorman, holding a string across the length of his back, which Moorman thereupon bows and slaps. In Variations on a Theme by Saint-Saëns (43), Moorman begins playing The Swan, then immerses herself in an oil drum full of water, then returns to the cello and completes the piece.
July 23, 1965:
Variations V: 37 remarks re an audiovisual performance by John Cage (52) is performed for the first time, in Lincoln Center, New York. Among the performers are David Tudor, James Tenney (30), Robert Moog (31), Nam June Paik (33), Merce Cunningham, and the composer. Moog created antennae which make noises on the approach of dancers.
October 4, 1965:
Nam June Paik’s (33) first video shots (of Pope Paul VI) are shown at the Café au Go Go in New York. He distributes a manifesto entitled Electronic Video Recorder.
November 23, 1965:
Nam June Paik’s (33) Electronic Art opens at the Galeria Bonino in New York.
December 2, 1965:
Playable Music no.4 by Nam June Paik (33) is performed for the first time, at the University of California, Los Angeles. The score reads “Cut your left arm very slowly with a razor (more than 10 centimeters). The performer must produce seven centileters of blood. One audience member shouts “Encore! Use your throat!”
February 25, 1966:
Piece for Alison Knowles by Nam June Paik (33) is performed for the first time, in Los Angeles. The work requires the female performer to remove 25 pieces of multicolored underwear.
May 21, 1966:
At the American Center in Paris, Charlotte Moorman performs Nam June Paik’s (33) Variations on a Theme by Saint-Saëns wearing nothing but a wrap of clear cellophane around her body.
July 19, 1966:
Cello Sonata Opus 69 by Nam June Paik is performed for the first time, in Aachen, on the eve of the composer’s 34th birthday. Cellist Charlotte Moorman performs the work topless. It will eventually become Opera Sextronique. See 9 February 1967.
February 9, 1967:
Cellist Charlotte Moorman plays a recital including Nam June Paik’s (34) Opera Sextronique before an invited audience in the Filmakers’ Cinémathèque on West 41st Street in New York wearing nothing but a skirt. After two numbers, she and Paik are taken into custody by police. See 9 May 1967 and 7 October 1968.
September 29, 1967:
Two works by Nam June Paik (35) are performed for the first time, in the John F. Kennedy ferry boat at Whitehall Terminal, New York: Check or Money Order and Amelia Earhardt in Memoriam, performed with Charlotte Moorman.
October 5, 1967:
Cutting My Arm by Nam June Paik (35) is performed for the first time, in Judson Gallery, New York.
May 12, 1968:
One for Radio by Nam June Paik (35) is performed for the first time, in Judson Gallery, New York.
October 7, 1968:
Nam June Paik’s (36) Opera Sextronique, featuring Charlotte Moorman, goes ahead without incident, in Düsseldorf. See 9 February 1967.
May 17, 1969:
Participation TV and TV Bra for Living Sculpture by Nam June Paik (36) are performed for the first time, in the Howard Wise Gallery, New York.
October 4, 1969:
Two works by Nam June Paik (37) are performed for the first time, at Wards Island, New York: Sonatine for Fish and For Three Korean Girls and Wind.
May 6, 1972:
Sonata for Piano, candle-light, and TV by Nam June Paik (39) is performed for the first time, in Bremen.
June 29, 1972:
TV Bed by Nam June Paik (39) is performed for the first time, at The Kitchen in New York. Charlotte Moorman plays her cello lying on a bed of televisions.
December 9, 1973:
Train Cello—Music Is Mass Transit by Nam June Paik (41) is performed for the first time, aboard Penn Central Railroad Cars in Grand Central Station, New York.
January 30, 1974:
Global Groove, a videotape by Nam June Paik (41), is broadcast over the airwaves of WNET, New York.
January 10, 1977:
The videotape Guadalcanal Requiem by Nam June Paik (44) is shown for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.
June 23, 1977:
The film Das gute Gewissen der Avantgarde, featuring Nam June Paik (44) and Mary Bauermeister, is broadcast for the first time, over WDR.
July 7, 1978:
Piano Duett by Nam June Paik (45) is performed for the first time, at the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf by the composer and Joseph Beuys.
September 26, 1980:
Symphony no.6 by Nam June Paik (48) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of WDR, Cologne.
April 30, 1982:
An exhibition entitled Nam June Paik (49) opens at the Whitney Museum in New York.
January 1, 1984:
The live event Good Morning Mr. Orwell by Nam June Paik (51) is broadcast simultaneously in France, West Germany, South Korea, the Netherlands, and the United States. Participating artists include John Cage (71), Laurie Anderson (36), Philip Glass (46), Allen Ginsberg, and Robert Rauschenberg.
June 2, 1984:
Coyote III Piano Duett by Nam June Paik (51) is performed for the first time, in Tokyo, by the composer and Joseph Beuys.
November 22, 1984:
Hydra Buddha, an installation by Nam June Paik (52), opens at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels as part of an exhibition entitled L’Art et le temps.
March 22, 1997:
The Goethe-Medaille is awarded to Nam June Paik (64) in Weimar. The composer is not present and he will receive the award at the Goethe Institute in New York on 8 September.
November 10, 1998:
Nam June Paik (66) is awarded the Kyoto Prize.
February 11, 2000:
The exhibition The Worlds of Nam June Paik (67) opens at the Guggenheim Museum, New York.
April 17, 2004:
The exhibition Nam June Paik (71) : Global Groove opens at Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin.
January 29, 2006:
Nam June Paik dies at his home in Miami, Florida, USA, aged 73 years, six months, and nine days.