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Nam June Paik «German Pavilion: Marco Polo» | German Pavilion: Sistine Chapel before Restoration
Nam June Paik, «German Pavilion: Marco Polo», 1993
German Pavilion: Sistine Chapel before Restoration | Photograph: Roman Mensing/artdoc.de http://www.artdoc.de | © Nam June Paik
The interior of the second side wing of the pavilion is completely occupied with a typical mixture of Paik's video projections. The restoration of Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel was being paid for by a Japanese TV station – in Venice the Korean responds to this by recreating the ceiling media-specifically.
 


 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.