A New Teacher's Guide to Teaching Nam June Paik

Teaching Nam June Paik for the first time can feel intimidating—he is often called the father of video art, his work involves stacked televisions and manipulated signals, and there is no single famous painting to anchor a slide. Take heart: that unfamiliarity is exactly what makes him a great teacher of media literacy. This guide covers what to prioritize, the traps waiting for a first-year art teacher, and a simple first lesson. It pairs with Nam June Paik – Video Art and Media Critique, which supplies the background so you can spend your energy on discussion.

What to prioritize first

Do not try to cover Paik’s entire career. Prioritize one big idea: an artist can use the tools of mass media—television, video, broadcast—to critique the very culture those tools create. If students leave your unit understanding that a stack of TVs can be a work of art and an argument about media, you have succeeded. Everything else is enrichment. This framing also satisfies visual-arts standards around connecting artworks to their social and technological context.

Common traps for first-year teachers

Several pitfalls catch new teachers with contemporary and media-based art.

• Apologizing for the weirdness. Lean into it. Students love art that breaks the rules; do not soften it into a boring biography.
• Assuming students “get” old media. Many have never seen an analog TV. Show what a cathode-ray screen looked like before you discuss it.
• Requiring expensive equipment. You do not need a video lab. A phone and a free editing app are plenty.
• Skipping the “why.” Always return to the critique—what is Paik saying about how media shapes us?

Because Paik’s work is fundamentally about power and communication, it sits comfortably beside other activist artists; teachers often pair it with Ai Weiwei – Art and Political Activism to show two generations questioning authority through art.

A simple first lesson

This lesson needs only a projector and student phones.

1. Hook (5 min): show an image of TV Buddha and ask, “Who is watching whom?”
2. Context (10 min): explain that Paik saw television as both a threat and a canvas.
3. Look and talk (15 min): students list what they notice, then discuss what the work says about screens in their own lives.
4. Make (15 min): in pairs, students film a 20-second clip that comments on their own screen habits.
5. Share (5 min): two or three pairs show their clips and explain the critique.

The making step matters: Paik believed in doing, not just watching, and students grasp his ideas fastest when they hold the camera.

Connect the color and the concept

If your students come to Paik after studying more traditional painters, use the contrast on purpose. A quick look back at how color and light were handled in Claude Monet – Impressionism and the Painting of Light or the optical mixing in Georges Seurat – Pointillism and Colour Theory gives students a vivid before-and-after: both Seurat and Paik were fascinated by how the eye and screen build an image from tiny points of light. That thread turns a jarring jump into a coherent story about perception.

Trust the strangeness

The best thing you can do as a first-year teacher is not pretend to have all the answers about difficult contemporary art. Model curiosity, ask real questions, and let students wrestle with what a glowing wall of televisions means. Paik’s work rewards that openness—and so will your students.

Related reading from the Teacher Hub

• Cross-Curricular Ideas for Teaching Nam June Paik
• Building Critical Thinking Through Ai Weiwei
• Georges Seurat: 5 Engaging Ways to Hook Your Students