Magnet TV

1958–1963

He meets John Cage

He meets the composer John Cage, whose ideas about using everyday sounds and noises in music strongly influence Paik.

1963

Exhibition “Exposition of Music – Electronic Television”

At his first exhibition, at Galerie Parnass, Paik scatters television sets everywhere and uses magnets to alter and distort their images.

1964

Moves to New York

He emigrates to the United States and settles in New York City; he will later become a naturalized American citizen.

1965

Buys his first Sony video equipment

He buys Sony video equipment and for the first time can shoot and record his own video: the first was a recording of the traffic jam caused by Pope Paul VI’s motorcade, which he showed to friends that evening at the Cafe a Go-Go. Other accounts say he bought the combined TCV-2010 unit with the first consumer videotape recorder, the CV-2000, and that the portable Portapak appeared only in 1967.

1965

First solo exhibition in the United States

The show “Electronic Art” at the Bonino Gallery in New York is Paik’s first solo exhibition in America.

1965

Married: Shigeko Kubota