TV Buddha

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zavk
Posts: 1161
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:04 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

TV Buddha

Post by zavk »

Hi friends,

I was going to post this in the shrine section but I don't think it's appropriate there.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some pics of the late Nam June Paik's famous art installation, TV Buddha. The idea of a Buddha contemplating the projection of himself raises all sorts of questions about what it means to perceive, to be perceived, and the nature of perception itself.

Nam June Paik created this in the 1970s and had updated it several times. I think it really captures our contemporary situation--it certainly expresses our ocularcentrism. I especially like the last one which he created in 1994, where the Buddha's body is made up of old electronic components. I used this as my avatar on ES. I think he renamed this 'Buddha Reincarnated'. It certainly reflects our changing understanding of our physical world and bodies, now increasingly distributed in cyberspace, which is really a non-space, an empty space.

I was fortunate enough to have viewed it some years ago when his work was showcased in Brisbane. I remember being very captivated by the installation. When I viewed it I felt I was being drawn into this contemplative, reflective space. Perhaps it was the first stirrings of the Dhamma in me (this was before I got into the Dhamma seriously).

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With metta,
zavk
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pink_trike
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Re: TV Buddha

Post by pink_trike »

Those are great, Zavk. There's an artist in San Francisco doing similar work (for example: a large sculpted Buddha head with a working television for a brain). I'll see if I can find.

These remind me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl6hNj1uOkY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...which I've posted previously.
Vision is Mind
Mind is Empty
Emptiness is Clear Light
Clear Light is Union
Union is Great Bliss

- Dawa Gyaltsen

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Disclaimer: I'm a non-religious practitioner of Theravada, Mahayana/Vajrayana, and Tibetan Bon Dzogchen mind-training.
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