Gene Youngblood, Expanded Cinema

pg. 302

"My experimental television is not always interesting," admits Nam June Paik, "but not always uninteresting: like nature, which is beautiful not because it changes beautifully, but simply because it changes."

 

pg. 308

"The real issue implied in art and technology," says Nam June Paik, "is not to make another scientific toy, but how to humanize the technology and the electronic medium... I suggest Silent TV Station, which transmits only beautiful 'mood art' in the sense of mood music. What I'm aiming at with my Lissajous figures and other distortions is a television equivalent of Vivaldi, or electronic Compoz. Lumia art will then become a permanent asset in the collections of millions of people. The Silent TV Station will simply be there, not intruding on other activities, and will be looked at exactly like a landscape or a beautiful bathing nude of Renoir. Normal TV bores you and makes you nervous; this soothes you. It's like a tranquilizer. Maybe you could call it video-soma."