On June 1, the Nam June Paik Art Center presented the pre-performance How Can One Know Life Without Knowing Death? as part of the 1st Nam June Paik Media Art Festival.
 
How Can One Know Life Without Knowing Death? is a ritual taking place 49 days before the anniversary of Nam June Paik’s death, which marks its 20th year this year. In another sense, it may also be understood as the reenactment — 36 years later — of the gut performance Paik staged on July 20, 1990 in memory of Joseph Beuys.
 
The ritual-performance was directed and performed by Bang Jiwon, an initiate of the Donghaean Byeolsingut (Village Ritual of the East Coast) tradition. A nest was installed in a king cherry tree in front of the main entrance of the Nam June Paik Art Center to welcome the spirit of Nam June Paik.
 
This gesture recalls traditional village gut rituals in which guardian spirits are invited into specific objects or places for the well-being of the community.
 
Following 《A Wolf's Step: from Seoul to Budapest》, the gut performance originally staged on July 20, 1990 to commemorate Joseph Beuys, the event will continue on July 20 with Marunogu: Nam June Paik Birthday Gut.
 
“Because we dislike death, we only peer toward it hesitantly before retreating.
Confucius said, ‘We do not yet know life, so how could we know death?’
But then, how can one know life without knowing death?”
— Nam June Paik, “Spirit (精神), Ice (氷), Elder (長者), Frozen Media, or Gut,” in Nam June Paik: A Pas De Loup – De Seoul à Budapest (1991), p. 50.

References

• 백남준아트센터 (Nam June Paik Art Center)
• 뉴시스, “죽음을 모르고 어떻게 삶을 아느냐”…백남준 20주기, 굿으로 귀환, 2026.05.22