NOW JUMP, the festival’s title, originates in the punch line from one of Aesop’s fables: “Hic Rhodus, Hic saltus!” NOW JUMP is an appeal to not simply rely on past achievements: NOW is always the time to act and JUMP. This title is an invitation or call to action but also represents the ambition of the Nam June Paik Art Center to leap into the future through the NJP Festival.
NOW JUMP is organized according to the concept of ‘Stations’. This notion simultaneously encompasses a state of stillness and of motion or anticipation of motion. In our everyday experience this can be the place where trains or buses regularly stop; a broadcasting station; a power station; a research institute; a studio; a local headquarters; a habitat; social status or a posture. For this festival five stations exist as concurrent initiatives, including exhibitions, performances, a platform to establish discourse, and the development of the NJP Art Center Prize.
Station_1 is a point of a departure gathering Nam June Paik archival material and works and combining it with that of his friends, colleagues and references. Aiming to recontextualize the artist’s work within the history of his own practice, that of Fluxus and other trends of the 1960s, it is an attempt to highlight the complexities of creativity and its social and political significance. Ultimately the goal is to renegotiate the influence Nam June Paik within the practice of new generations of artists.
Station_2 is a state of anticipation – reintroducing the notion of potentiality into the actualized exhibition space and implanting an openness that the exhibition loses when it comes into being. Different forms of performance are given a platform from which they can be regarded and from which they can also look at each other. By producing their own space, time and durational place these works expose the circuits into which they are inserted and begin to expand into the realm of lived experience.
Station_3 is a journey that has already begun. Unlike Stations 1 and 2 which are mainly presented in the Art Center building, Station 3 intersperses artworks into a brand new private gallery and an existing high school gymnasium. The specific characteristics of these buildings create shifts in mood and tone. Whereas before the works were in dialogue with the past and the contemporary present, here the dialogue ranges from domestic and introspective to imposing and controlled, reminiscent of being in urban space. In this context, the practices presented dwell on creativity as an ability to open lines of flight from apparent reductive definitions and restrictions.
Station_4 and Station_5 are spaces of transit offering temporary points of arrival, moments for reflection, and a place from which to embark on new departures. Respectively, they correspond to workshops, seminars and publications and to the establishment of the NJP Art Center prize.
A kills B, Allan Kaprow, André Gonçalves, Annie Vigier & Franck Apertet (Les gens d’Uterpan), Antonia Baehr, Anzaï, Aurélien Froment, Bas Jan Ader, Bik Van der Pol, Bomin Kim, Boris, Charmatz (Association EDNA), Byungjun Kwon, Byungki Whang, Castillo/Corrales, Changsub Choi, Charlotte Moorman, Choogsup Lim, Claudia Triozzi, Donghee Koo, Dora Garcia, Dujin Kim, Eunjoo Lee, Forced Entertainment, George Brecht, George Maciunas, Guido van der Werve, Guillaume Désanges, Hans G. Helms, Hansol Yoon, Hermann Nitsch, Herwig Weiser, Hontoban-Anthony Bannwart, Hwayeon Nam & Younggyu Jang, Hyoungmin Kim, Jackson Hong, Jan Fabre, Joe Johns, John Cage, Joongki Geum, Joseph Beuys, Karlheinz Stockhausen , Kiyoshi Kuroda, Klaus Barisch, Kris Verdonck, Kulim Kim, Kunyoung Lee, Kyungwon Moon, La Ribot, Larry Miller, Manfred Leve, Manfred Montwé, Manon de Boer, Marjolijn Dijkman, Mary Bauermeister, MeeNa Park, Merce Cunningham, Minsuk Cho, Nam June Paik, Namaiki(David Duval-Smith, Michael Frank), Naoki Ishikawa, Neungkyoung Sung, Otto Muehl, Paolo Soleri, Paul Granjon, Peter Fischer, Peter Moore, Peter Weibel, Peter Welz, Rene Daalder, Rimini Protokoll, Robert Filliou, Romeo Castellucci (Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio), Rostarr, Ryoji Ikeda, Sasa [44, Sergio Prego, Shiomi Mieko, Shuya Abe, Stephan Reusse, Stephen Smith/Neasden Control Centre(Stephen Smith, Dherry Jeurissen), Sukhi Kang, Sun Yuan, Susie Lim , Sylvano Bussotti, Toshiki Okada, Ulrich Bassenge, Vincent Dupont, Wang Xingwei, William Forsythe, William Gedney, Wolsik Kim, Xiao Zhuang, Yangachi, Yiso Bahc, Yuji Takahashi, Zilvinas Kempinas
