Liverpool artwork of the week 2010-51. Aunt and Uncle 1986 by Nam June Paik at Tate Liverpool 17 December 2010 – 13 March 2011.
Actually two artworks and part of a larger series as there were also grandparents and children. Only a small part of the excellent and fascinating retrospective across both Tate and FACT Liverpool galleries.
The humanisation of technology is a theme that runs through most of Paik’s work but it is shown most clearly in this ‘Family of Robot’ series. made up of ‘parents’, several ‘children’, ‘grandparents’ and an ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle’. The family members were composed of multiple televisions which reflected the generation of the robot.
Although static, they are animated by the videos played on the televisions.
Text from the exhibition statement.