Video summary
On the 250th anniversary of the United States, the narrator visited Washington D.C. to inspect "The Electronic Superhighway," an iconic video art installation created by renowned artist Nam June Paik in 1995. This massive display maps all fifty states using a unique combination of neon lights and CRT monitors that were originally housed in Paik's New York studio before being gifted to the Smithsonian Institution and relocated to Washington D.C. The setup is notable for its specific design choices, such as Florida and Texas appearing flattened onto the floor due to height constraints during their original construction, creating a snapshot of American culture from the mid-20th century that remains largely unchanged since its debut in 1995.
The installation features approximately three hundred thirty-six displays, with many still utilizing high-end Professional Video Monitors (PVMs) and JVC D-series TVs alongside standard CRT units. Each state contains a video loop reflecting the region's culture from the era of creation, originally driven by an extensive array of DVD players housed in a large metal cabinet filled with cables. However, time has taken its toll on this technological relic; while less than ten percent of the screens have been replaced, some smaller monitors have already been swapped for LCDs that tilt backward and lack the authentic curvature of original CRT technology. Security measures around the exhibit prevent close inspection, but visitors can still observe the breathtaking scale of having hundreds of these aging displays operating simultaneously in one location.
Beyond the main map, the museum also houses other significant works by Paik, including a famous piece featuring a vertical line on a broken television screen that resulted from an accidental malfunction during its original 1960s exhibition. The narrator expresses deep appreciation for the preservation of this art form over thirty years and hopes that future generations can continue to be inspired by these artifacts before they are inevitably modernized or lost. While acknowledging the practical difficulties of maintaining thousands of CRT units, such as in Paik's ultimate masterpiece "More the Better" located in South Korea, the narrator emphasizes the unique value of experiencing this specific historical moment frozen in time and encourages anyone visiting Washington D.C. to see it while they still can.
Read the full video transcript
All right, we're on the 250th
anniversary of the United States of
America and I thought I'd do something a
little special this year. I had the
opportunity to go to Washington D.C.,
the capital of the United States, and
check in on the electronic superhighway.
Now, the electronic superhighway is a
video art setup display of the United
States of America, all 50 states, and
then it's
made by Nam June Paik who is a
very famous, talented artist whose
medium was pretty much video art, and
specifically he used a lot of CRTs in
his setup. So, this originally debuted
in his art studio in 1995,
and like I said, it's an entire map of
the United States. It includes
even Alaska and Hawaii,
and just some interesting things to
point out here. When you look at the
setup, you'll notice that Florida and
Texas they're kind of morphed into the
floor, and there's a reason behind that.
Originally, this was built in Nam June
Paik's studio, and when he put it
together, his ceilings were only 20 ft
tall, so the neon lights that were used
to outline Florida and Texas had to be
altered and flattened out on the floor,
and that's why they've always been like
that. And
just some more interesting details,
everything is done in true neon, all
those lights are neon lights, and then
there's
each state has
CRT
video
units, you know, different monitors and
TVs set up within each state, and
there's a video loop playback within
each one of those states, and it has
something to do with the state. I mean,
they're all different, and they're all
obviously culturally from the '90s or
earlier, so you're going to see stuff
from 1995 and earlier. Nothing really
after that would be possibly in this
display. So,
um
it is kind of a snapshot on America
during the 20th century. So, just some
interesting things again about this
display. It is huge. It is still set up.
Uh it was gifted to the Smithsonian
I want to say in the early 2000s and the
deal for them was to come and they had
to come and take everything apart and
move it to their facility. And so, they
moved it from
uh New York City to Washington, D.C. And
before they even set it up, it took a
few years for them to get a spot ready.
And you can go see this still right now.
And for some reason, it's blanking on me
which one of the museums it's at, but
you can look it up and I will actually
put that on the screen right here in
text since I just can't think of the
which one it is, but you can still go
there. It's completely free to visit.
And if you go to the third floor,
this has been set up and it's it's
breathtaking, really. I don't know where
else in America you're going to see this
many CRTs still set up in one place.
Uh there are a total of 330
six displays on this uh video wall. And
when you start to look at things, I
mean, it's going to amaze you how many
of these are still PVMs. I saw JVC
D-series TVs. I saw a lot of high-end
PVMs in um the display. And then I
started to like look around and there
were smaller s- displays that
I don't know, I had never seen before,
but I could kind of tell there was
something off with them. They didn't
exactly look like a CRT, they were boxy,
but
um um
I didn't I wasn't really sure what they
were. I couldn't really get too close to
the setup uh because there was security
there and actually warned me to back up
a little bit. I wasn't paying attention.
There was a wrap around the floor on how
far I could get, but I did finally find
one of these
uh display monitors where the screen it
actually tilted back and it was starting
to break and it's an LCD screen. So,
unfortunately, they are already being
forced Well, they're not being forced.
They're just choosing to update with an
LCD screen over the original CRT. So,
there are a number of these screens. I'm
not exactly sure exactly how many, but
there are a number of these screens that
are not uh CRTs anymore. It's mostly
those 8-in or 9-in displays. They're
smaller and again, they look like this.
I'll show you to you on the screen and
you can see how it's and obviously an
LCD as it plays the video and it's
tilted backwards.
So,
that's kind of an inevitability over
time of this. It's still an amazing
piece
and really, if you get the opportunity
and you're in the United States and you
happen to be in Washington D.C.
and the museum is open and you love
CRTs, then you should definitely go
check this out. Nam June Paik was an
amazing artist who always thought um
very like I mean, if you love CRTs and
you've never heard or seen any of his
art displays, you're about to be blown
away. Just look it up. I'm not going to
show you a lot of stuff. Everything I
took and videos and pictures I'm showing
you is stuff I shot in my day at the
museum. Uh there were a couple of other
of his display setups. One of my
favorite things that uh he set up was a
TV that had a vertical line on it and
it's literally vertical collapse and the
story was when this was originally being
used for an art display that was set up,
I think, in the 1960s.
The TV showed up broken and it wasn't
part of the original plan to have just a
vertical line on the TV but um
he wound up using it as an art display
and it became famous. So, he was famous
for this vertical line collapse on a TV
and they still have that set up right
next to the
interstellar super highway or sorry,
electronic super highway. I don't know
why I want to call it interstellar.
Anyway, it's a great piece. Um another
cool thing was all this was being run
from a cabinet
like a big metal cabinet over in the
corner and it looked like miles of
cables were going into this cabinet and
then you just saw data lights going
crazy from inside of it. I'm sure at
this point a lot of this stuff has been
converted over to media files playing
uh but it used to be originally back in
1995 and up to 2000, it was all DVD
players. I think something like 50 DVD
players, one for each state was hooked
up and could you imagine that having one
DVD player hooked up for each one of
these
uh states and then having the DVD made
and having the custom DVD play
[laughter] on each state and so it was
really a massive undertaking that's been
kind of updated and thankfully like I
said there's still a vast majority of
the CRTs in this display. I'm betting
less than
10% has been replaced at this point. So,
that doesn't give you a whole lot of
time probably. I mean these things could
go bad if they're just if their goal is
to just replace them with a more modern
display
as it goes on. So, if you were thinking
about seeing this definitely do that.
Um now for Nam June Paik exhibits,
um while this is probably the most
amazing
uh piece of his art still up
set up in America,
there is one piece that I would really
love to see that's not in America. It's
in his home country of Korea in South
Korea and there is a exhibit called the
more the better and I would rather not
spoil it for you. If you want to go
check that out, you can go look at it,
but ultimately my dream is to one day go
check this uh
entire display set up because this was
like his Magnus Opus, his most amazing
video wall I thought I'd ever seen. It
has over a thousand displays on it. Uh
now it's interesting cuz you can read a
lot about how again modernization is
happening to a lot of these video walls
and things and as that happens, I can
only imagine how many of these units are
being just replaced with more modern
displays just because it's easier to
work around and uh
while that's disappointing, I do
understand that having, you know, a
thousand CRTs serviced every five years
is a crazy thing to even think about and
um but I don't know, how much does that
affect the way the art impacts you or
me? I'm not really sure. Um I know that
for me personally, I love the fact that
CRTs are still used in this way or that
they were originally used in this way
and that we've been able to preserve
this art for what's going on 30 years.
And uh I just really enjoyed my visit to
the museum. There were a couple other
CRTs in the museum that I found. There
were like uh Sony PVMs and there was a
2530
that I found which is a 25-in box CRT. I
also found some Dotronix
CRTs which is another boxy style CRT
with just some video art on it. Uh so
it's always fun for me to go in and go
to an art museum and see
what's going on with the CRTs they still
have. Uh I have done work with museums
in the past. I've never done anything
with the Smithsonian surprisingly even
though it's only a couple hours from my
shop.
But uh I hope that they can, you know,
keep this display going and enjoyed for
future generations to be inspired by all
kinds of things that they see in this.
So, anyway, that's my day. That's my
check-in and update on the electronic
superhighway and uh
I hope you've enjoyed it. If you did,
leave me a like. I'll see you guys next
time with some more retro content.