[Commlist] Call for submissions: Chapters for Electronic Shaman: Nam June Paik, Shamanism, and Emerging Media

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS: Chapters for Electronic Shaman: Nam June Paik, 
Shamanism, and Emerging Media

On July 20, 1990, Korean-born video artist Nam June Paik (NJP) held a 
shamanic ritual in Seoul, Korea, commemorating his close friend Joseph 
Beuys, a German-born avant-garde artist. The performance was titled Nam 
June Paik + Shaman Exorcism Rite + Joseph Beuys’ Memorial Service (Jans, 
2018). Through the ritual, Paik became a “medium,” a shaman “who 
connects the past with the future through reincarnating spirits and 
mourning for the other” (Cheon, 2009, p. 234). On January 29, 2007, a 
year after NJP’s passing, Kim Keum-Hwa, the renowned national shaman of 
the time, performed a shamanic memorial ritual for Paik in Seoul and 
resurrected him in spirit (Cheon, 2009, pp. 270-278).

According to the memoir of Shigeko Kubota, NJP’s life partner, NJP took 
considerable pride in Korea’s cultural heritage of shamanism. NJP’s view 
on shamanism was more than performing or participating in shamanic 
rituals. He believed the core of Korean shamanism to be communication, 
so shamans should facilitate communication between/among or through 
beings. For him, Korean shamanism was the beginning of the world, as it 
allows humans to communicate with Heaven (or God). NJP’s emphasis on “an 
information-age realization that what is made is less important than how 
it is received” (Zinman, 2019, p. 82) makes clear how his works and 
vision are based on his belief in shamanism as communication.

There are numerous publications on NJP’s life and works, but only a few 
in English on NJP’s video art works and shamanism, which is an important 
aspect of NJP’s oeuvre. Mina Cheon (2009), Young-Cheol Lee (2012), Wook 
Steven Heo (2018), and Mi-Jung Kang (2019) are among the authors with 
published work on these themes. Jung-Jin Park’s work (2010), although 
written in Korean, provides valuable and thorough insights into NJP’s 
world from the perspective of Eastern philosophy.

The edited volume Electronic Shaman: Nam June Paik, Shamanism, and 
Emerging Media will focus on various interrelationships among NJP’s 
works and shamanism in emerging media contexts. The volume also attempts 
to illuminate NJP’s works in relation to dark shamanism and 
neoliberalism. Potential topics and themes might include but are not 
limited to the following:

_Topics/Themes _

  * NJP’s works, shamanism, new materialism
  * NJP’s works, shamanism, Internet of Living Things (IoLT)
  * NJP’s works, shamanism, electromagnetic spectrum
  * NJP’s works, shamanism, social media
  * NJP’s works, shamanism, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  * NJP’s works, dark shamanism
  * NJP’s works, (dark) shamanism, neoliberalism

Please email abstracts of approximately 500 words to Joonseong Lee 
(jlee /at/ csusm.edu) <mailto:(jlee /at/ csusm.edu)> as a Word document by Sept. 15, 
2024. In your abstract, please be sure to include a short bio for all 
authors of no more than 200 words.

_Timeline _
_
_
Sept. 15, 2024 - Chapter proposals (abstracts) due
Oct. 1, 2024 - Decisions announced
Mar. 1, 2025 - Full chapter draft due (expected full chapter length 
6,000—8,000 words)

_References _

Cheon , Mina. Shamanism + Cyberspace. NY: Atropos press, 2009.
Heo, Wook Steven. “The Influence of Shamanism on Nam June Paik's Video 
Art.” Moving Image Technology Studies, vol. 28, 2018, pp. 95-113.
Jans , Rachel. “Nam June Paik: Kinship, Collaboration, and 
Commemoration.” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Aug. 2018, 
https://www.sfmoma.org/essay/nam-june-paik/ 
<https://www.sfmoma.org/essay/nam-june-paik/> . Accessed July 7 2024.
Kang, Mi-Jung. “The Sound of Shamans in the Works of Nam June Paik and 
Early Korean Video Artists.” ScienceOpen.com, Aug. 2019, 
https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/RESOUND19.18 
<https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/RESOUND19.18>. 
Accessed July 7 2024.
Lee , Young-Cheol. “The Founder of Video Art Nam Jun Paik and 
Shamanism.” TK-21 La Revue, 2012, 
https://www.tk-21.com/TK-21-LA-REVUE-No15-24?lang=fr#The-Founder-of-Video-Art-Nam-Jun 
<https://www.tk-21.com/TK-21-LA-REVUE-No15-24?lang=fr#The-Founder-of-Video-Art-Nam-Jun>. 
Accessed July 7 2024.
Park, Jung-jin. Reading Nam June Park’s Video Art by Kut: from 
Neo-shamanism to Eco-feminism, Seoul: Koreanstudies Information Service 
(KIS) (in Korean), 2010.
Zinman, Gregory. "This Script is Not Final, and is Subject to Changes: 
Nam June Paik between Page and Screen." We Are in Open Circuits: 
Writings by Nam June Paik, edited by Hanhardt, John G, et al, The MIT 
Press, 2019, pp. 73-85.




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