On January 28 and 29, marking the 20th anniversary of Nam June Paik’s passing, the event 《AI Robot Opera》 was held at the Nam June Paik Art Center.
 
The event takes its motif from Robot Opera, a historic performance carried out by Nam June Paik in New York in 1965. In that performance, Paik remotely controlled Robot K-456 while collaborating with cellist Charlotte Moorman, staging a street performance in which humans and robots performed together. Through this, he realized a form of humanized technology as an artistic practice.

Based on the technical manual provided by Shuya Abe during his visit to the Nam June Paik Art Center several years ago, as well as the guidelines presented in the Nam June Paik Art Center’s Technical Report on the Art of Nam June Paik (2025), the restoration process brought Robot K-456—which had been dormant for 30 years—back to life. Reborn in a humanized form, the robot once again walks, speaks, and even excretes.
 
Through 《AI Robot Opera》, the Nam June Paik Art Center reactivated Robot K-456 in front of the public for the first time, staging yet another moment destined to be remembered in the history of Korean contemporary art.

Robot K-456 is one of Nam June Paik’s seminal works, encapsulating his vision of humanized technology. Produced in collaboration with Japanese engineers, this work was a 20-channel remote-controlled robot, and was named Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat Major, Köchel’s number 456. The robot could walk around the street. Its mouth played a recording of President John F. Kennedy’s speech, and its bottom dropped peas as if defecating.
 
Robot K-456 participated in a number of performances with Paik. In 1982, as part of Paik’s retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the robot appeared in an accident-performance where it was struck by a car while crossing a road. Paik called the performance as “the first catastrophe of the 21st century,” trying to reveal the falsehood of mechanical rationality and propose a humanized machine that possesses human anxiety and emotion, which also experiences life and death.

The reborn Robot K-456 in 2026 came together with performances by two artists—Byungjun Kwon and Eunjun Kim—who seek to carry forward Nam June Paik’s artistic spirit, creating a special moment in which Paik’s art reconnects with contemporary sensibilities.
 
Park Nam Hee, Director of the Nam June Paik Art Center, remarked, “At a time when technology is shaping sensibility beyond knowledge, Paik’s art of experimentation and resistance invites us to reflect on ontological insights into fragile and imperfect human beings, as well as on coexistence with materiality.”
 
Commemorating the 20th anniversary of Paik’s passing in 2026, she added that she hopes Paik’s art will “resonate as a cosmic opera across time and space within these ‘re-energized circuits,’” paying tribute to his legacy.

References

• 성남신문, 다시 만나는 백남준의 〈로봇 K-456〉, 서거 20주기 故백남준의 예술정신을 따라 함께 하는 축제의 장, 2026 《AI 로봇오페라》, 2026.01.21
• 백남준아트센터, [소장품] 백남준 – 로봇 K-456 (Nam June Paik Art Center, [Collection] Nam June Paik – Robot K-456)