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Nam June Paik «German Pavilion: Marco Polo» | German Pavilion
Nam June Paik, «German Pavilion: Marco Polo», 1993
German Pavilion | Photograph: Dieter Daniels | © Nam June Paik
In a small room reached from the rear of the pavilion visitors can look into Paik's staging of creative chaos – but something that looks like a store-room at first is in fact part of the exhibition.


 Nam June Paik
«German Pavilion: Marco Polo»

Nam June Paik was invited to represent Germany at the Venice Biennial with Hans Haacke in 1993. Hans Haacke used the central space in the pavilion and Paik used the two side wings and the exterior. The jury awarded him a 'Golden Lion'. Paik's central motif is the connection between Asia and Europe, which Marco Polo first described in his famous journey from Venice to Ulan Bator. Thus this figure represents Marco Polo's metamorphosis in an age of global media communication.