Image scanned from a transparency and color-corrected by Pat Cagney.

Hamlet Robot

Artist Nam June Paik (American, b. Korea, 1932 - 2006)

Date1996

MediumVideo installation

DimensionsOverall: 144 x 88 x 31 in. (365.8 x 223.5 x 78.7 cm)

ClassificationsContemporary art

Credit LineMuseum purchase and gift of Joan Dalis Martone, Fran and Lenox Baker, Joan and Macon Brock, Susan and Paul Hirschbiel, Renée and Paul Mansheim, and Robert McLanahan Smith III

Object number98.29

Terms

Robots
Televisions
Hamlet
Video
William Shakespeare
Denmark
Literature
motion pictures
Black
Gold
Multi
Video Installation
Fluxus

Collections

Modern and Contemporary

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is a video installation comprised of televisions in the form of a human figure; other elements, such as a sword, skull, crown and scepter, that are attached to the television simulate the William Shakespeare character, Hamlet. The work consists of the following: Eleven (11) vintage television cabinets; two (2) vintage radio cabinets; five (5) Samsung 13-inch televisions, model 1372; Six (6) KEC 9-inch televisions, model 9BND; two (2) Sony 5-inch televisions, model FDT-5BX5; 1,000 watt transformer; two (2) Pioneer Laser disk players; two (2) original Paik Laser disks. Attached decorative elements: crown, scepter, sword, and skull. The televisions are on and display changing iconography relating to Hamlet.

Label TextNam June Paik American, b. Korea, 1932–2006 Hamlet Robot, 1996 Video installation In 1996 the pioneering video artist Nam June Paik used 13 vintage television sets as building blocks to create this sculpture of the tragic Prince of Denmark from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. Paik’s hulking giant wears the family crown, holding a royal staff in one hand and a plastic skull in the other—a playful reference to Hamlet’s dramatic soliloquy on life and death. The TV screens hypnotically pulse with Hamlet movie clips, photographs of Kronborg Castle, and old engravings. These flashing screens lure us to look, but they also evoke the dizzying speed of the electronic “information highway” (a term coined by Paik) and the breakneck pace at which we look at nearly all imagery in the modern world. Museum purchase and gift of Joan Dalis, Fran and Lenox Baker, Joan and Macon Brock, Susan and Paul Hirschbiel, Renée and Paul Mansheim, and Robert McLanahan Smith III 98.29