From: purple <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: "MCLUHAN-L : Marshall McLuhan Discussion List"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 00:02:23 -0500
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [MCLUHAN-L] Paik Wake
It was an astounding event. Apparently he's bigger than McLuhan.
South Korea
is building a big museum dedicated to his oeuvre. The Smithsonian
has a lot
of his work on display.
All the avant-garde luminaries were there. Speeches were given by
Yoko Ono,
Christo and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, Bill Viola, and yours truly
(I told
some MM/Paik stories). Telegrams from the President of Korea, the
German
culture czar, the Smithsonian, etc. His nephew was the best.
Here's how he
ended his talk:
"This is an interesting story I'll tell you. Aside
from trying to keep him liquid, this is one of the
most interesting things I did with him. In 1998,
Nam June was invited to a state dinner at the
Clinton White House, June of '98. If some of you
remember, it's not that long ago, that was the
height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which
had broken out earlier, in January or February.
Nam June was going, and he asked if I would go
with him. So I said, sure. I went with him. I
wheeled him into the White House, and these gigantic
Marines took over from there. Nam June
was very amused, I think. He was having a great
time, talking to all the people there.
Then we got to the receiving line. Nam June decided
to show respect, I think, to the president,
Mrs. Clinton, and the other dignitaries there. He
decided to get up from his wheelchair, get on his
walker, and try to walk across the receiving line.
Across the receiving line at the state dinner is the
World's press. They're all there; I don't know how
many, tens of cameras and video cameras, everything.
So as Nam June is talking to President Clinton,
and I'm standing right behind him as he's
making some small talk to President Clinton,
Nam June turns around and says to me: Ken,
I think my pants are falling. True story here. And
I said, What? My pants are falling! he says. I
look down, and his pants are falling! They are
completely down on the floor. And he has no underwear on!
So I pick up his pants. I pull them up and I just hold them there.
Now, Bill Clinton is such a cool president he
still continued to have small talk with my uncle. I
think they were talking about Chelsea, maybe, I
don't know. A little bit down the line, I could see
that Hillary was really not amused at all. She was
ticked. But Bill Clinton was saying nothing. It was really
quite amazing.
After that interesting dinner, Nam June was inundated
with phone calls, faxes, everything. All his
friends around the world thought that was the
best Fluxus performance in the world. Everybody
wanted to know, including the press, whether it
was an accident or whether it was, because you
have to remember, my uncle is in a wheelchair
now but he has a reputation for being a cultural
terrorist. So I asked Nam June, did you drop
your pants on purpose? Was it an act? Was it an
artistic statement? A political statement? And so
he said, My pants dropped. That's all. He told
me, and this is very Nam June, he said, It really
doesn't matter. It was a great event.
He's just like that, totally unfazed. Was he
embarrassed? No, of course not! And I think
Bill Clinton was very cool about that, too. The
press was so excited that somebody else's pants,
not the president's, had dropped in the White
House. They were so excited by that. It was the
ultimate Fluxus event.
About two hours ago, I called Nam June and I
told him I was going to receive this Medal for him,
and I asked him, What advice do you have for
the artists in the Colony? I'll pass on to you what
he said. He said, Work hard. Be lazy - which is a
very Nam June Paik thing to say. And he wished
you all well. Thank you very much."
At the end of the memorial today, the nephew handed out about
fifty scissors
and asked everyone to cut off the tie of the man next to you or
you wouldn't
be allowed in the reception. Everyone cut off their neighbor's tie
and then
Yoko suggested everyone put the pieces in Nam's open casket.
Everyone did.
More amazing things happened at the reception.
Bob Dobbs
P.S. Since he was a "global artist", Paik asked to be buried in 10
countries.
