Zen for TV

Zen for TV is among the first of Paik’s works to use television as art material. It was produced by chance in 1963 when a television ordered for his first solo exhibition arrived broken. Its cathode-ray tube emitted a single stream of electrons, collapsing the broadcast image into one glowing line. In subsequent versions of the work (including the Blanton’s), Paik manipulated the television’s tube to recreate this effect. By disrupting television’s constant flow of imagery and information, Paik offers a focused, less passive way of engaging with technology. While not a Zen Buddhist himself, Paik became interested in its tenets through his friend, experimental composer John Cage. Zen for TV is one of several works that Paik produced in Germany in the early 1960s, including performance and film, that invoke Zen through the production of a single meditative line.